Kiwapower launches in the Mexican Energy Sector

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.

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