OREANDA-NEWS. Nearly 70 companies participated in Mexico's first power auction and submitted final offers yesterday for 15-year "clean energy" supply contracts and 20-year clean energy certificates, a success for the government which had said it was hoping for a dozen participants.

Almost a third of the pre-qualified projects were photovoltaic solar (72.8pc), followed by wind power (21.7pc), hydropower (2.8pc) and cogeneration (1.6pc), according to the energy secretary.

Most of the projects have installed capacity of between 10-100MW each.

The final winners will be announced later today after regulator Cenace has reviewed all proposals.

The auction is the first to be held in Mexico's recently launched wholesale power market, marking the break-up of state-owned utility CFE?s long-held monopoly under a 2014 energy reform.

The CFE, the sole buyer in the auction, is looking to acquire 6.3mn clean certificates, 6.3mn MWh of supply and 500MW of stand-by capacity.

The certificates will help generators comply with Mexico's green target, which establishes that at least 35pc of the energy generated comes from a "clean" source by 2024. An initial mandatory 5pc goal was set for 2018, to be followed by gradual increases.

The pre-qualification process drew a brisk turnout last month, with 103 participants and more than 460 technical offers, amounting to eight times what the CFE was prepared to buy, Mexico's deputy energy secretary C?sar Emiliano Hern?ndez Ochoa told reporters last week.

Yesterday, 69 participants submitted 227 final offers that each included at least one of the items, clean energy certificates, clean power supply and/or stand-by capacity.

Cenace, which supervises the auction, has not revealed information yet on the type of projects that were submitted into the final phase of the auction yesterday.

Overall, Mexico is expecting a total investment of 58bn pesos ($3.3bn) within the next two-to-three years, since all projects must be submitted in 2018, when the current administration ends.

The CFE can also participate as a project developer in the tender, but its participation is minor, Hern?ndez said.

A spot market was launched in January. At the moment, CFE and two other companies are the only ones registered on the spot market but three other permits are being processed. The energy secretary expects more firms to join throughout the year.

A second auction is scheduled for next month, but it is not clear if this will be postponed in light of the overwhelming turnout in the debut auction. It is also not clear when Mexico might hold an auction for conventional power, including combined-cycle units based on growing imports of US shale gas.