Photovoltaic energy
represents an opportunity to reduce environmental impact, mitigate climate change and the dependence on non-renewable resources for countries as well as private companies and citizens in the comfort of their homes, stated Julian Willenbrock, General Manager of Enlight , the Mexican solar energy company , during his participation at the Solar Power International (SPI) held from 24 to 27 September in Anaheim, California .
Willenbrock was part of the forum, acting as representative of the Mexican Solar Energy Association (ASOLMEX) to present the current status of the solar energy market in the country and the challenges the sector will face in the future. Mexico’s photovoltaic energy sector has shown an exponential growth in terms of distributed generation with over 80,000 interconnection contracts , which represents a 45% growth in only 10 months .
This growth was brought upon by a broader competitiveness in solar energy prices; in many cases, it is even cheaper than energy generated with non-renewable sources. Both in large-scale solar energy sales as well as energy collected in people’s rooftops, clients obtain savings of up to 99% in their energy consumption when using solar panels.
“In the last four years, 66% of the new energy generation equipment installed in the world has been solar. However, we know that there is still a long way ahead for Mexico and the rest of the world, since renewable energies represent only 12.1% of total energy generated worldwide , and little more than 20% in Mexico , which is why maintaining the increase in the use of solar panels, just as it has been done in the past few years, is bound to accelerate this transformation and reduce the negative impact of non-renewable sources in the planet,” commented Julian Willenbrock, CEO of Enlight .
Mexico
has set a goal to generate 50% of its energy from sustainable sources by 2050 and it is expected that at least 35% of its energy will come from clean sources -notably, the solar industry- by 2025 . The Energy Regulation Committee estimates that the solar industry’s current capacity will grow 30-fold in the next 7 years .
As representative of ASOLMEX , the director of Enlight shared the panel with David Renne , chairman of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) ; Bruce Douglas, Deputy CEO & Chief Operating Officer of the Solar Power Europe ; Gianni Chianetta, assistant-manager of the Italian Solar Industry Association (Italia Solare) ; José Donoso, general manager of the Spanish National Photovoltaic Association (UNEF) , among other representatives from Argentina, South-Africa, and Asia.
This is the second time in 2018 that, through ASOLMEX , Julian Willenbrock represents Mexico’s solar industry at an international fair. Enlight is currently an industry leader in the domestic energy sector and it is expected that the country’s photovoltaic potential will lead him to the seventh place worldwide.
The SPI is the most important photovoltaic fair worldwide , and a prelude for the Solar Power Mexico that will be held in March 2019 thanks to the alliance between the Sunshine Energy International Limited and the Solar Power International .
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