Saltillo city hall to become solar-powered

Municipal authorities of Saltillo, capital of the northern Mexican state of Coahuila, plan to convert city hall and the adjacent administrative office building to solar power.

According to state news agency Notimex, the plan involves the installation of 350, 255W solar panels and two 40KW inverters at city hall; the city government will also convert 1,400 lightbulbs to LED models, with the aim of reducing its electricity bills by at least 80%, and for which the municipality has received funds totaling 9.5mn pesos (US$440,000).

The administrative building will be fitted with 310 solar panels of the same wattage, and the replacement of 805 lightbulbs.

The actions are part of a project that is the result of a viability study into the implementation of an electricity generation and energy saving pilot plan for all spaces managed by the city government, according to the report.

Last October, the Mexico City government launched a clean energy program, aimed at increasing generation for public buildings using renewables, and promoting the growth of a distributed generation network.

The energy ministry announced earlier this month it is cutting bureaucracy for small-scale solar power and presented an interconnection manual with the goal of increasing distributed generation, simplifying the interconnection process and shortening the timeframe for installation, with requests for solar installation guaranteed a maximum 18-day response.