Mexico no longer faces the challenge of attracting investment to revive its photovoltaic market. Now the challenge will be building them. Between the 901 MW awarded in the private December tender, the 6,710 MW allocated in the first round of the mixed investment scheme with the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), and the 4,595 MW of photovoltaic capacity that the Ministry of Energy (SENER) seeks to award in a new call for bids , the country has over 12 GW of solar capacity with commercial operation dates (COD) projected mainly around 2029. The question is no longer who will develop the projects, but how to execute them within the planned timeframes and without repeating the mistakes that other markets have already experienced.
In that scenario, Héctor Erdociain , Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Chemik Group , warns that the biggest bottleneck will not be in the supply of modules or inverters, but in construction capacity.
"Right now in Mexico there's going to be a construction boom and there won't be enough people prepared for that construction," the executive said.
According to the executive, the experience accumulated by the industry over the last decade allows it to avoid many of the problems faced by other markets during their initial expansion phases. However, he believes this will only be possible if developers, EPC contractors, and manufacturers stop focusing solely on the initial cost of plants and begin prioritizing solutions that simplify execution and reduce risks throughout the assets' lifespan.
"We must not fall into the trap of excessive CAPEX spending, because in the end we will fall into the same old trap," Erdociain warned.
With over 20 years of experience , a presence on five continents , and more than 45 GW supplied , Chemik Group maintains that a significant part of the solution lies in the industrialization of construction. In the last year alone, the company delivered 6 GW , the largest volume in its history.
"What sets us apart from the rest of the competitors is innovation. We have several patents, and that's what makes us different in the market and allows us to provide real value to our customers," he stated.
The real problem arises when the work begins.
While much of the industry focuses the discussion on the supply of main equipment, Erdociain believes that the greatest inefficiencies appear once the plant begins to be built .
" All our developments and patents have come to solve the entire construction aspect, which is where the real problems occur ," he explained.
Chemik Group's strategy involves transferring processes from the automotive industry to photovoltaic construction, aiming to enable installations to be completed faster, with fewer errors and less reliance on highly specialized labor.
"Our core focus has been innovation and industrialization. We come from the automotive world and we've brought that to photovoltaic parks," he said.
The executive sums up that philosophy with a simple comparison. " It's crucial that you create a product that's like a construction set, easy to build, and that anyone with minimal training can do it, " he pointed out.
This approach, he says, is especially relevant given the volume of projects that Mexico will have to execute almost simultaneously over the next four years.
As an example, he mentions a recently developed park in Peru, where Chemik supplied 465 MW in the middle of the desert. " The entire electrical infrastructure has already been built with local people and the surrounding communities ," he emphasized.
As he explained, the standardization of processes made it possible to incorporate local labor without compromising the quality of the installation, an aspect that also improves the social integration of the projects.
Another of the most representative cases occurred in Taiwan, where Chemik participated in the redesign of a 110 MW photovoltaic plant built in an area exposed to tsunami risk. The original engineering design included a structure elevated four meters above ground level, a solution that significantly increased the project's CAPEX.
" We redesigned the entire plant for them and saved them $11 million ," he said.
The company completely modified the electrical architecture using a Virtual Central Station , centralizing the inverters next to the transformer and replacing much of the conventional wiring with aluminum cabling and its own harness system.
According to the executive, this type of solution ultimately consolidates long-term business relationships. " There's only one client who will be transferring 1.2 GW of projects to us this year. That means you've completely secured their loyalty and are providing real value ," he stated.
The mistake that the new Mexican era can still avoid
Beyond the engineering aspects, Erdociain issued a specific warning about a component that often goes unnoticed during plant construction: the connectors. " Photovoltaic connectors are a trivial matter, but they cause fires everywhere in photovoltaic parks ," he cautioned.
He explains that most of these problems are not related to the component itself, but to the way it is installed in the field.
" When an installer uses a crimping tool that has play and an operator puts in 2,000 connectors, you have 2,000 problems in the project and nobody is going to check it ," he argued.
Therefore, he believes that the new stage of the Mexican market offers an advantage over other expansion cycles: the industry already knows what the recurring mistakes are and has solutions to avoid them.
" They should opt for solutions that truly add value and quality to projects ," he concluded.
For Chemik Group, the next race in the Mexican market will no longer be defined solely by who wins the contracts, but by who manages to execute more than 12 GW of new capacity within the planned deadlines, maintaining the quality of construction and ensuring that the projects reach commercial operation without deviations towards 2029.