Mexico’s environmental ministry has approved a transmission line project from a major solar plant in Sonora to Baja California. It is part of the country’s most ambitious clean-energy plan.
The $250 million project would carry energy from an enormous solar power plant near the Sonoran beach town of Puerto Penasco, or Rocky Point, to Baja California, finally connecting the peninsula to Mexico’s electricity grid.
The solar plant is currently under construction, and is set to be the largest in Latin America.
The transmission lines will carry energy from the plant to a planned substation in the Sonoran town of Golfo de Santa Clara and then on to Mexicali, Baja California. They were approved on the condition of meeting 16 requirements, including a hydrological study and plans to protect the surrounding ecosystem.
Conservation groups previously circulated a petition protesting the transmission line route, citing potential damage to important ecological sites like the El Pinacate biosphere reserve.
