ASiAn invASion wElcomEd - ProMéxico

26 Negocios photo archive
Solar Energy,
Luminous
Alternative
Mexico’s strategic location
has always been key to the
establishment of solar cell
producing companies.
The German company
Q-Cells is opening a plant
in Mexicali with an investment
of 3.5 billion usd, representing
the largest amount of foreign
investment in Mexico’s history.
Also, the Japanese company
Kyocera has opened a plant in
Tijuana with an investment
of 33 million usd.
By Karla Bañuelos
First came fire nearly 500,000 years ago. Water
and windmills appeared in the Middle Age.
Many years later came carbon and other fossil
fuels during the Industrial Revolution. Finally
there was oil. Each one, in their time, has been
the main source of energy in the world. Their
use, however, has eroded the planet’s environmental
balance, due in large part to carbon dioxide
(CO 2
) emissions generated by their combustion.
According to the magazine Science,
CO 2
emissions have reached their highest levels
in history, deriving in ecological problems
like the greenhouse effect, one of the causes of
global warming.
A very effective way to diminish this deterioration
is the use of alternative energies like photovoltaic
–the generation of electricity through
solar energy. The use of this energy source has
grown in the last few years around the world.
Between 1985 and 2008, installed capacity of
solar energy went from 21 megawatts to 5,498
megawatts. To clarify these figures: a megawatt
is equivalent to one million watts.
With an increase in solar energy use, the demand
for photovoltaic or solar cells has grown
by 30% in the last 15 years. The main markets
are Spain (the biggest in 2008), followed by Germany,
Japan and the United States.