Mexico's first PV façade is generating power

Spanish firm Onyx Solar's first photovoltaic (PV) façade in Latin America is now generating electricity for the Femsa conglomerate's offices in the northern city of Monterrey.

The façade, the first in Mexico and Latin America, generates 5,500KW/h and has eliminated 2.7t in CO2 emissions since the building's PV skin entered operations in June, according to Spanish newspaper El Norte de Castilla.

As well as generating electricity from its solar panels, the building's amorphous silicon façade lessens the need for air conditioning by 50%, according to a study carried out by the Ávila-based firm in conjunction with the País Vasco University in Lejona.

Onyx Solar developed a PV plant for the roof of the Viracopos airport in São Paulo, and has developed projects in Spain, France and the US.

A planned 22MW solar project on Honduras' Roatán island was canceled in 2012 after the firm deemed the local political, financial and regulatory environment "unfriendly to alternative projects."

Femsa, the world's largest Coca-Cola bottler, is a pioneer in the use of renewable energy for its plants in Mexico. The firm will be one of the main off-takers from Mexico's largest wind farm, Ventika, to be built in Nuevo León state, and from a 396MW farm under development by Energía Eólica del Sur in Oaxaca.