Participants of the well visited Intersolar Summit in Mexico City, which took place on May 15th 2014, were very optimistic about the future of the Mexican solar market.

Pforzheim / Mexico City, Mexico, May 27th 2014. According to the experts, who discussed the potential and future scenarios of the Mexican PV market at the recent Intersolar Summit in Mexico City, the country offers ideal preconditions for investors and solar companies, due to its beneficial legal framework, high domestic energy demand and abundant solar insulation. Marco V. Calderón Agoitia, Head of Energy and Strategic Development at Cosmo Consulting Mexico, predicted massive potential in Mexico&146;s residential segment. There are approx. 530,000 private households, which could benefit from installing a solar system.

Another incentive presents a special regulation of the Mexican electricity market. It is the fact that electricity rates for Mexican households are only fixed to a certain amount of their energy consumption. If households consume more than this fixed amount within in a period of six months the electricity rates increase drastically. A PV system, which is also designed for self-consumption, could enable Mexican households to secure their electricity rates. Experts estimate a market volume of five billion US-Dollars resulting from these incentives.

Public authorities also appear to pave the way for more in investments in the country&146;s PV market. The national government aims at a cumulated installed PV capacity of 627 MW in 2018 as part of its support scheme for renewable energies. At the end of 2013, an installed PV capacity of 100 MW could be observed in comparison. At the summit, Efraín Villanueva Arcos, Director of Sustainability at the Secretary of Energy of Mexico (SENER), highlighted the opportunities for private investments resulting from the latest changes in the legal framework. With it, it will be possible to directly market energy to end customers in the future.

Against this background, the one-day event addressed possible financing concepts for companies and investors. During the panel discussion, experts discussed specific financing opportunities in Mexico and shared their views on opportunities and challenges, such as access to capital. Experts of financial institutions, like Banco Santander and the Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), mentioned the importance of Power Purchasing Agreements (PPA), which project developers can rely on when planning PV projects economically. Moreover, panelists emphasized the importance of standardized financing concepts in order to minimize transaction costs.

Information on the Intersolar Summit

The &132;Intersolar Summit Mexico&147; was supported by the Premium-Sponsor SCHMID Group and AHK Mexico (CAMEXA), ANES, CEMAER, CONUEE, ICLEI, ProMexico, the network initiative Joint Forces for Solar and Green City Freiburg. Media partners were altenergymag.com, ENF, ERA SOLAR, die PV Magazine Group, Renewable Energy World, Solar Builder and Solar Power World.

For questions about the Intersolar Summit and for more information on the events, please contact Daniel Fuchs, Senior Marketing Manager: fuchs@intersolar-summit.com