lifestyle, travel This is Cozumel

A new wind farm the size of almost 7,000 American football fields will be built in the south of Cozumel, announced Mexican president, Felipe Calderón, last Thursday.

The farm's turbines will generate some 60 megawatts, enough to power about 19 thousand homes, said the government's international investment agency, ProMexico.

 

The announcement was made at the president's official residence, Los Pinos, in Mexico City, and was also attended by Roberto Borge Angulo, the governor of Quintana Roo, the state where Cozumel is located.

Borge said the energy generated could save the municipal and state governments 15-20% on their electricity bill as well as directly creating hundreds of new jobs on the island.

Cozumel wind power
Announcement by President.

 

A Mexican subsidiary of San Diego-based renewable energy company, Cannon Power Group, will construct the project, with an overall spend of $500 million on the island.

Cozumel's mayor, Aurelio Joaquín González, welcomed the announcement and said it fits with his vision to "create without destroying".

After more research has been completed, construction of the first phase of the project, called "Cozumel 1" is expected to start in 2012.

Cannon Power Group will also add new wind farms to those it already has in Baja California, as well as another new project in the central Mexican state of Zacatecas.