Category Archives: mexico news

The greening of Mexico….

Mexico state utility’s first solar plant set to start operations

Mexico City, February 22, 2012 — Mexican state power company Comisión Federal de Electricidad’s 1 MW Santa Rosalía photovoltaic pilot project in Baja California Sur state will soon begin operations, according to the utility.

The solar power plant will be CFE’s first in the country, and sits on land beside the road to the company’s Las Tres Vírgenes geothermal plant. Microm, a unit of Grupo Condumex, constructed the plant.

Baja California Sur’s Mulegé municipality said in a statement last year that the project would require $6.13 million investment.

Mexico currently has roughly 25 MW solar capacity and CFE last year selected Spanish firm Abengoa Solar to develop the 14 MW concentrated solar component of the Agua Prieta II thermoelectric-solar hybrid pilot project in Sonora state.

CFE also recently awarded Spanish group Iberdrola the contract to build the 5MW Cerro Prieto PV pilot project in Baja California state, beside CFE’s Cerro Prieto geothermal plant.

The Mexican presidency is up for grabs in 2012. After being out of power for 12 years, the PRI have an excellent chance to regain the nation’s highest office and this is important since Mexico has a very strong, centralized federal government that can change a lot of things even at the state level.

The Financial Times has a recent blog entry by Jorge Zepeda Patterson that attempts to explain all the ins and outs of the upcoming election and its possible results and implications.

Mexico: The Return of the PRI and What It Might Mean

Obesity and diabetes are running amok in Mexico. It’s so very sad to see otherwise beautiful people, adults and children, carrying a lot of extra weight. When those kilos are around your waistline, they are sarcastically called “llantas” as in tires.

It’s no wonder these health issues exist, as Mexicans drink 43 gallons of soft drinks per person per year. That’s over 5500 ounces of sugary Coca Cola and Pepsi and others. And then there is the massive beer consumption that was covered in a previous post - 7.15 average amount, in gallons, of pure alcohol consumed each year by the Mexican drinker (78 percent of it is beer) 

Read EFE’s full post on Mexico’s sugary desires after the break. [ read more ... ]