Cemex announced today the creation of Cemex Energia, an energy division that aims to develop a portfolio of power projects that will supply about 3-5 per cent of Mexico's electricity needs over the next five years.
“We are very enthusiastic about Mexico’s energy sector future, and we will leverage on our experience in developing projects that benefit the country,” said Fernando A Gonzalez, CEO of Cemex.
First milestone
The first milestone achieved by the new unit is the signing of a joint venture with Pattern Development, a partner backed by Riverstone, that will help to put together a pipeline of renewable energy projects in Mexico and share the development costs. Cemex Energía will have the option to take minority equity stakes in the energy projects developed by the joint venture.
“We are very pleased to sign this joint venture with Pattern Development. This is a mutually beneficial deal, that will help us leverage the use of our knowledge to continue our industry-leading expertise in the use of clean energy and alternative fuels,” said Luis Farias, Cemex Vice-president of Energy and now head of Cemex Energia.
“Through this strategic partnership with Cemex Energia we have set a goal of jointly developing 1000MW of renewable generation in Mexico over the next five years,” said Mike Garland, President and CEO of Pattern Development.
“Mexico is a natural expansion market due to our development headquarters in Houston and our team’s experience in developing over 1000MW of wind projects in California, New Mexico and Texas. We enter the rapidly growing renewable energy market in Mexico with a strong and experienced local partner in Cemex, a global leader in building materials, which has a successful track record of developing projects in Mexico.”
Cemex said it will not consolidate any projects from this joint venture and any debt incurred to fund such projects will have no recourse to Cemex. Cemex expects to contribute approximately US$30m into Cemex Energia over the next five years.
