The Mexican company Inventive Power has concluded an agreement for the sale of solar steam, the first in the country and in Latin America; The project is for a company dedicated to the production of dairy products in Guanajuato.
The agreement is through a PPA (acronym for Power Purchase Agreement) and can be compared with those made by Iberdrola or Acciona, which sell electricity to companies or industries, which decide whether to buy their energy with the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE ) or to these companies that generate clean electricity at a lower cost.
In an interview with Forbes Mexico, the founders of Inventive Power, Ángel Mejía (CEO) and Aldo Agraz (CEO of technology), talk that they are going for more projects of this type and are already in talks with Mexican and European investors to get an initial funding of 10 million dollars.
The first installed project of solar concentrators that generate very hot water, steam or air with high temperatures –can reach up to 200 degrees Celsius – Under this scheme, it is located in San Roque de Montes, Guanajuato, for an SME, FAMO Alimentos.
In addition, Inventive Power expects to close two more deals this year, all with its own resources.
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If funding is achieved, they estimate that could install in Mexico between 15 and 20 more projects like this one in 2022 They also want to reach Chile, where the use of renewable technologies is being strongly encouraged.
“Most of the companies do not have the money available to be able to invest in these assets, so we implement this model in which we can sell thermal energy, we make the investment of the plant, we are the owners of the solar collectors. We calculate a price per ton of steam, we make a discount based on what they can generate this ton with another type of fuel and we charge them monthly”, Explained the director of the company.
In the specific case of Mexico, the growth prospects are great, since 60% of industries have at least one boiler for some process, for which they use natural gas, LP gas, diesel or fuel oil, but these mechanisms are more expensive and harmful to the environment.
According to the founders, with a thermal system, companies or industries they can save between 5% and 20%.
For example, in the project for FAMO Alimentos, the agreed price for the generation of a ton of steam will be 10% less than what it currently costs by burning natural gas and will contribute to the reduction of 275 Tons of carbon dioxide per year.
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“Being a company withdrawn from natural gas pipelines, its operating costs are much higher compared to its competition, by buying the energy necessary for its process with Inventive Power, its operating costs are reduced and FAMO Alimentos becomes more competitive in the market ”, they point out.
A challenge for the Inventive Power business is that, compared to photovoltaic technology, solar thermal is very little known and more diffusion and government support is needed in Mexico.
Inventive Power was founded in 2010 and was the product of a solar concentrator development project that Ángel and Aldo did when they were studying at Tec Campus Guadalajara in 2008.
Although the Mexican company is starting in this of the solar steam sales agreements, already has more than 100 projects installed in MexicoThe difference is that these are owned by the companies, which do have the solvency to acquire this technology, some of these are hotel chains such as City Express and Holiday Inn, there are also Unilever, Barcel and Nestlé.
In addition, Inventive Power manufactures and ships equipment to the United States.
* This note was originally published on August 26, 2021.
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