MEXICO’S CFE AND SIEMENS FURTHER COLLABORATION WITH NEW AGREEMENT

Mexico’s CFE and Siemens are furthering their plans to improve the competitiveness of the national electricity grid following a Letter of Intent signed in February.

CFE and Siemens signed a new agreement, based on the based on the Letter of Intent signed between the utility and Siemens on February 14, which sought to identify projects to modernise the national electricity grid.

Reporting on the news of the new agreement, the El Semanario weekly paper, said: “The signing of this new agreement consolidates the progress of the work done on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between CFE and Siemens on February 14. The MoU sought to identify projects to modernise the national electricity grid, as well as evaluate the incorporation of new technologies and operational practices to improve the quality of the electric service that CFE provides to its customers.”

El Semanario adds that as part of the agreement signed on Monday, the Mexico City-based utility and Siemens have committed to continue working on the incorporation of new digitization technologies, toward improving the competitiveness of the national electricity grid as well as reducing costs.

Strategic partnership

“The strategic collaboration … allows the CFE to continue to strengthen its operating processes and, consequently, improve the service for its more than 41 million customers throughout the country,” said the director general of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), Jaime Hernández.

Siemens AG president and CEO Joe Kaeser also commented saying, “Siemens has been a key partner in Mexico’s Energy Reform by implementing the most efficient and innovative solutions for the first time in Latin America. With CFE and our digital capabilities, we will continue to be pioneers and make Mexico’s energy sector one of the most advanced and competitive in the world.”

Louise Goeser, CEO of Siemens in Mexico and Central America, noted that “the new projects will contribute to the creation additional employment and a greater demand for qualified talent.”

The service contracts are expected to provide maintenance to equipment installed in various CFE generation plants and includes the modernisation of CFE’s transmission and distribution infrastructure. Mexico’s state utility and Siemens will also leverage digital solutions toward the creation of an intelligent network.