The public company Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) of Mexico, the largest company in the electricity sector in Latin America, has awarded the development of two natural gas combined cycle plants (CCGT) in the state of Yucatán to a consortium formed by the Spanish companies Técnicas Reunidas and TSK, which will carry out the design and execution of the plants on a 50/50 basis, and the Japanese company Mitsubishi Power, which will provide the turbine technology.
These are the Valladolid and Mérida combined cycle plants, which will have an approximate capacity of 1,000 MW and 500 MW, respectively, and will use state-of-the-art gas turbines capable of reaching maximum efficiency levels.
The contract amount for Técnicas Reunidas is 335 million dollars.
The incorporation of more efficient electricity generation technology, based on natural gas, will allow Mexico to continue reducing the contribution of the most polluting electricity generation plants, which use heavy liquids as fuels, thus helping to decarbonize its electricity system.
In addition, the two plants will provide a significant boost to the socioeconomic development of the Yucatán peninsula and significantly strengthen the coverage of its energy needs, as the area has high and growing levels of electricity demand, especially in the summer months. In particular, its commissioning will be very relevant to supply energy to the Tren Maya, a mega railway project started in 2018 by the Government of Mexico, which will have a length of more than 1,500 kilometers and whose route extends through Yucatan and four other states in the country.
The specific actions to be undertaken by the Spanish consortium include mainly the works related to engineering, supply (excluding the gas and steam turbines, which, as well as the heat recovery boilers, will be supplied by Mitsubishi Power), construction and commissioning of the two plants, whose development will last for an estimated period of 33 months in the case of the Valladolid plant and 35 months in the case of the Mérida plant.
In particular, the engineering work, which will be assumed in its entirety by Técnicas Reunidas, will require the contribution of 500,000 total hours during 12 months by a team of more than 500 highly qualified engineers.