Mexican president Vicente Fox and Iberdrola chairman Ignacio Galan officially inaugurated the Altamira V plant, the largest combined cycle plant commissioned in Mexico to date.
With the start of this new 1,121MW electric power facility, Iberdrola has strengthened its position as the top independent energy producer in the country, and the second producer overall after the state enterprise, the Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE).
The contract for the plant was awarded to Iberdrola after a public invitation to tender issued by the CFE, which chose the company’s proposal to take care of the considerable energy needs Mexico currently has. Under the terms of the contracts signed, Iberdrola has assured the sale of all energy that it produces for 25 years to the CFE, which will also supply gas to the plant.
Iberdrola now has more than 3,800MW of power in Mexico, which amounts to an annual production of approximately 30,000 million kWh. This installed capacity is distributed among the combined cycle plants of Monterrey III, Altamira III and IV, La Laguna II, and Altamira V, as well as the Enertek cogeneration plant.
Iberdrola is building another plant in Mexico, namely the Tamazunchale combined cycle plant, which will start operating in 2007. The Spanish company also has wind energy developments in the state of Oaxaca, which total 150MW of power.
