From the office in Bilbao, Spain to the desert in northern Mexico, engineers from Aldesa, a subsidiary of China Railway Construction, have been busy these past few months. Following the completion of the 375MWp El Tuli photovoltaic power plant in Mexico earlier, this veteran Spanish contractor has once again placed its signboard at the center of the Latin American new energy map - a 160 million euro turnkey contract for integrated solar and energy storage, setting a new record for Aldesa's project scale in Mexico.

This deal comes from the mixed energy tender completed by Mexico's National Power CFE in June 2026. In the round of what the industry called Mexico's largest public-private partnership new energy procurement in recent years, CFE released a total of 37 renewable energy projects with a capacity of about 7.4GW, of which photovoltaic accounted for 6.7GW. Aldesa's 420MWp photovoltaic plus 150MW energy storage package is an extremely important part of this large grid.

Promotion of integrated light storage system

The core configuration of the project is quite straightforward: 420MWp photovoltaic installed capacity, synchronously matched with 150MW battery energy storage system. Aldesa's job is not to sell equipment, but to shoulder the responsibility of fine design, equipment supply, on-site construction, and full system grid connection debugging, bringing the project from the loess field all the way to the entrance of commercial operations.

The power grid side is also not ambiguous. To open up the new energy transmission channel, a new 400kV high-voltage substation will be built on site, and over 24 kilometers of transmission lines will be laid. The curve where photovoltaics produce more during the day and drop faster in the evening will be smoothed out by the 150MW energy storage; Storing electricity during the off peak period and releasing it during the evening rush hour to fill the load gap can also stabilize the voltage and frequency of the regional power grid.

New regulations in Mexico are forcing

Behind this round of bidding in Mexico is an increasingly tough policy lever: large-scale new energy projects must be equipped with energy storage. In March 2025, the new energy storage regulations in Mexico will be implemented, and new wind and solar projects must be equipped with battery systems that are not less than 30% of installed capacity and have a discharge capacity of at least 3 hours; In June 2026, the National Electric Power Commission issued general regulations for energy storage and grid connection, which listed grid type control as a mandatory requirement for grid connection, covering multiple routes such as electrochemical, mechanical, and pumped storage.

For CFE, the hybrid mode is not simply about expanding capacity, but about supplementing schedulability. Industrial electricity and nearshore manufacturing are climbing rapidly with loads, and relying solely on photovoltaic panels is not enough. Energy storage must be used to turn clean electricity into a resource that can be dispatched at any time. Although the MWh of Aldesa's 150MW energy storage system has not been announced and the specific storage duration cannot be calculated, it has already exceeded the bottom line of mandatory storage allocation in Mexico.

Railway Construction in Latin America

Aldesa herself is a character whose fate has been rewritten by China Railway Construction Corporation. In 2020, Tiejian Investment invested and held about 75% of the shares, turning it from a local Spanish builder into a springboard for Tiejian to connect the European and Latin American markets. Nowadays, Aldesa's total wind and solar energy storage reserves in Latin America have exceeded 3GW, and its business has expanded to Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Colombia. In addition to this 420MWp large order, there is also the established El Tuli 375MWp photovoltaic power station in Mexico to provide a backup reputation.

Aldesa's combination of railways, gas turbines, photovoltaics, and energy storage is becoming increasingly comprehensive in Mexico. The Guerrero Negro gas turbine power station has just completed its final handover, and the contract for the Kretaro Irapuato railway has also been received. Now, the EPC of solar energy storage has taken another step forward, and China Railway Construction's infrastructure energy dual track narrative on the southern edge of North America has added another real page to the book.keywords:New energy information network

As for the precise site selection, owner identity, commencement and operation dates of the project, Aldesa and CFE have not relaxed their stance at present; How many megawatt hours of energy storage beyond 150MW are still locked in the drawer. But the contract worth 1.233 billion yuan has already been signed, and the photovoltaic array in the desert and the 400kV substation will eventually answer the remaining questions.Editor/Yang Meiling