Spanish-French Consortium Plans $150M Power Plant in Playa del Carmen

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — A Spanish-French consortium is considering a $150 million investment to build a power plant in Playa del Carmen, aiming to reduce the region’s dependence on electricity imported from neighboring states and address frequent blackouts.

Antón Bojórquez, a promoter of social programs for the ruling Morena party, said the Grupo Cobra consortium could generate up to 150 megawatts of electricity. The project depends on finding suitable land near substations and obtaining permits from all three levels of government.

Currently, 97% of the electricity consumed in Quintana Roo comes from Yucatán and Campeche, making the state vulnerable to outages originating in those regions. “When it fails there, we also suffer the consequences,” Bojórquez said.

The proposal will be added to the investment portfolio promoted by the federal Economy Ministry, led by Marcelo Ebrard, to advance local energy infrastructure. However, Bojórquez warned that solving the blackout problem also requires modernizing the transmission grid, given Playa del Carmen’s rapid growth.

Possible locations for the plant include former material banks and already-impacted land. Solar projects would require about 300 hectares, while wind projects need up to 3,000 hectares. The Calica area, currently in litigation with Vulcan Materials, was also considered but its immediate use is complicated.

Bojórquez noted that while there are no current disruptions to natural gas supply — the region’s main power source — authorities must monitor potential cost increases or supply reductions due to international conflicts.