CFEnergía, a subsidiary of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE, in its Spanish acronym), and the Iberdrola Mexico power company have signed a contract for natural gas supply to the El Carmen combined cycle plant for 24 years. This plant is the first to be built in Mexico for the sale of electrical power to the nation’s Wholesale Electricity Market.
Iberdrola Mexico’s new plant, which will be located in the El Carmen municipality in Nuevo León state, with an installed capacity of 866 MW and an investment of $450 million U.S., is scheduled to begin commercial operations in September 2019.
CFEnergía will be responsible for supplying the natural gas that will be used to operate the plant. The CFE construction area will be responsible for construction of the electrical infrastructure needed to carry electrical power out of the plant and connect to the National Electricity System.
The pipeline that will provide the plant with natural gas is 302 kilometres long and operated by Howard Energy Partners. It will run from the Webb County Hub in Texas to Escobedo, Nuevo León. This same pipeline will be used to provide fuel to our neighbouring Noreste plant, which will operate as an independent power producer (IPP), making the Escobedo municipality one of the most important sites for Iberdrola in Mexico with an installed capacity of nearly 2,000 MW.
CFEnergía has become Iberdrola Mexico’s primary gas supplier. Currently, it supplies gas for the Altamira V, Tamazunchale and Baja California III IPP plants, as well as the fuel needed to produce these three plants’ additional capacity.
The contract was signed on 31st August by CFEnergía General Director Guillermo Turrent and Iberdrola Mexico General Director Enrique Alba.
