As in most Latin American countries, in Mexico, statistics in solar thermal energy field are not up-to-date and renewable energies prospects do not include this source of generation.
In Mexico, in 2010, solar systems to heat water were installed in an equivalent area of 272,580 m2, reaching an accumulated area of 1,665,502 m2.
According to estimates, in next 4 years almost double the production area by solar thermal energy.
Although we do not find data about current installed capacity in Mexico, we can conclude that this type of energy has had a great growth in recent years and that it is likely that the installed capacity has doubled again.
Due to country average radiation levels, a solar thermal installation for domestic hot water has become a very profitable investment in Mexico, since water heating causes the greatest gas consumption and with this application, gas use is reduced by up to 80% in regions with higher radiation.
Recently there has been a noticeable decrease in prices of solar equipment for domestic hot water.
The factors that allow this to happen are imports, easy manufacturing, technology maturity and competitiveness between national and international companies that offer this type of equipment.
In Mexico, there are important companies that manufacture low temperature thermal solar energy equipment. The first began in 1940 in Guadalajara.
Several government programs have promoted low cost acquisition of solar heaters by residents of areas where the gas network does not reach.
Other solar thermal energy applications that have increased considerably are swimming pools conditioning and water heating for industrial processes.
Hermosillo was one of the first states to adopt this type of technology for industrial processes in Mexico.
A cement company uses a thermal 291 KW equipment to operate a 75 tons of single effect cooling system. This was the first air conditioning system based on renewable energy in Latin America. The parabolic cylindrical collectors are located on the roof and on one side of corporate building; it operates in a range from 70 ° C to 95 ° C.
Other systems have been installed for generating heat purpose.
Mexican companies have commercially developed parabolic-linear solar concentrators to generate thermal energy between 50 ° C and 200 ° C. These systems are used mainly in food sector.
Some of the companies that currently have this alternative energy generation in the country are:
– Food company: installation of 80 solar concentrators for process heat generation and absorption chiller supply.
– Dairy company: installation of 70 solar concentrators for direct heat input in dairy products processing.
– Egg producing company: installation of 80 solar concentrators for boiler preheating.
Despite advances, there is still much room for solar thermal technology development in Mexico.
The final impulse could come from special financing lines implementation, since for a large population sector initial system investment is still very high.
All you need is Sun. All you need is Sopelia.
