Mexico City, July 21, 2020. – Kiwapower (www.kiwapower.com/en/), a joint venture between Marubeni Corporation (hereinafter “Marubeni”), a leading Japanese trading company, and Becquerel Capital, a Mexican sustainable energy specialist, is pleased to announce the launch of its operation in the Mexican market. Kiwapower is a new independent electricity producer focused on on- site solar power generation for commercial and industrial companies.
Recent proposed changes in the regulation and tariffs in the Mexican electricity market have highlighted the attractiveness of renewable power generated at the point of consumption.
Kiwapower supplies electricity through solar photovoltaic energy systems located on the rooftops of its clients’ facilities. It offers Mexican companies a long-term predictable electricity tariff that will provide significant savings against their current electricity bill from day one. Kiwapower requires zero investment and zero maintenance costs, and only charges based on the electricity generated by the system. Working with Kiwapower does not involve the client taking on debt and gives the client the option to purchase the system at any time.
Kiwapower has lined up significant firepower to invest into distributed solar energy installations across Mexico and is ready to do business in the current market conditions. With the support and experience of Marubeni, a Fortune Global 500 company with 65 years of presence in Mexico and over 12 GW of net power generation capacity across 19 countries, Kiwapower is a reliable new energy generator. (For reference, the installed capacity of Mexico owned by CFE and the other private companies is about 70 GW as of today.)
“We believe Kiwapower offers Mexican companies the ideal product at this challenging time” said Harry Beamish, of Becquerel Capital “Kiwapower will help them cut electricity costs, without any upfront capital commitment, and provide for valuable long-term certainty. And we do this by providing clean solar-powered energy, helping companies reduce their carbon footprint and meeting their environmental and social goals, often a regulatory or board requirement”.
With the fragilities of modern supply chains underlined by the current COVID-19 crisis, a greater energy independence through local, decentralized solutions is becoming more important for companies and governments. This pandemic can be seen as a preamble for a greater, possibly more pressing climate emergency for which we need to be much better prepared. Solar power generated at the point of consumption will provide businesses’ greater resiliency, as such power depends less on volatile market and regulatory conditions, while helping reduce pressure on a congested electrical grid. Kiwapower’s clients can own the system upon termination of the energy supply agreement, ultimately becoming more self-sufficient and reducing their energy costs even further.
Kiwapower is partnering with a network of selected, local solar installation companies around the country, who will build and maintain the solar systems on behalf of Kiwapower. Smaller, distributed systems provide more jobs per installed MW than larger centralized power plants. Kiwapower and its partners see its decentralized solution as highly complementary to the CFE’s own centralized offering.
“We have chosen to invest in the Mexican market at this time due to the large demand for private-sector solutions to finding reliable, cheap and green electricity,” said Keisuke Moriyama, of Marubeni “We believe Kiwapower provides that, and are excited about serving the Mexican business community by helping them reduce their energy costs and carbon footprint”.
Commercial and Industrial customers operating in the Mexican market are often faced with high, unpredictable costs and a significant carbon footprint. By contrast, the supply of plentiful sunshine in most of the country and the benefits from a now mature photovoltaic manufacturing industry have made onsite generated solar a highly attractive alternative or complement to the grid. Nonetheless, a solar installation can require high upfront CAPEX, and the day to day challenges of designing and operating medium voltage solar generation are complex, and outside the area of expertise of many Mexican companies.
Kiwapower solves this by building and operating the solar system, and charging a pre- agreed tariff for the electricity that is generated. The client remains connected to the grid, which he will continue to use for electricity not generated onsite. Unlike energy supplied from a remotely located power plant, the client does not assume risks associated with unpredictable transmission and congestion charges, and the power generated has no environmental or social impacts. This model has proven effective in many parts of the world, and is ideally suited to the Mexican market and regulatory regime.
“With Mexican industry eager to get back to business” said Xavier Tournier, of Kiwapower “the focus of many companies is going to be on lowering their cost structure while reducing their capital deployed. Kiwapower solves for that.”
About Marubeni (www.marubeni.com)
Marubeni Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries use their broad business networks, both within Japan and overseas, to conduct importing and exporting (including third country trading), as well as domestic business, encompassing a diverse range of business activities across wide-ranging fields including lifestyle, ICT & real estate business, forest products, food, agri business, chemicals, energy, metals & mineral resources, power business, infrastructure project, aerospace & ship, finance & leasing business, construction, industrial machinery & mobility, and next generation business development. Additionally, the Marubeni Group offers a variety of services, makes internal and external investments, and is involved in resource development throughout all of the above industries.In terms of power generation infrastructure, Marubeni has a global track record of 112 GW in executing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) projects and has expanded its net power generation assets portfolio to over 12 GW across 19 countries. As per the Notification Regarding Business Policies Pertaining to Sustainability in Relation to Coalfired Power Generation Business and Renewable Energy Generation Business it issued in September 2018, Marubeni Corporation will continue to expand its business activities in the renewable energy power sector throughout the world.
About Becquerel Capital (www.becquerelcapital.com)
Becquerel Capital is an investment and financial structuring specialist focused on clean energy infrastructure, operating from Mexico City since 2013. The company participates across the life cycle of clean energy projects, maximizing returns and mitigating risks by focusing on environmental and economic fundamentals. The team has an extensive track record financing and developing power generation, energy efficiency and water infrastructure in Mexico and other emerging markets.
