Cancun, Q.R. — A Cancun hotel is the first in the region to use a Tesla battery to store its solar energy. Company SolarFuel installed the Tesla made battery earlier this week on the grid of a 200-room hotel.
The battery will allow the hotel to store solar energy which is used to power the Golden Parnassus hotel during the hours of greatest electricity demand.
The U.S. imported battery relies on the energy supply provided by solar panels installed on the roof. Andrés Muñoz, Southeast Commercial Manager of SolarFuel, says the new system provides the hotel with a 35 percent savings on its monthly elctric bill.
The company, with capital from Monterrey, says that in Quintana Roo the hotel industry is eager for options to generate green energy so as not to depend solely on the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).
Officials have been participating in talks with state hotels to install more of this energy solution.
“We currently have negotiations that represent potential sales for approximately $500 million dollars and cover some 30,000 rooms that we can land here in Quintana Roo, from Costa Mujeres and Cancun to Rivera Maya,” said the representative of the Monterrey firm.
The Tesla battery is programmed to be operational between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., a period that is called high demand and doubles the rate per watt, which increases the monthly billing for energy consumption by up to 35 percent.
The system installed in Cancun involves three types of installations that include the battery, water heaters and rooftop solar panels that generate 330 kilowatts per hour.
The 200-room building uses the stored battery energy to power the hotel during peak times.
While the general cost is around $3.5 million, the business scheme they are proposing to the Quintana Roo hotel industry is zero investment for the hotel in exchange for SolarFuel keeping the 35 percent savings that the solution represents in the monthly billing.
The plan is for a period of 25 years after which the hotel becomes the owner of the installed equipment and extends a maintenance plan to SolarFuel.
The Golden Parnassus hotel is the first in Cancun to have a Tesla battery and an entire renewable energy system with solar panels.
The model was presented Thursday at a press conference in Cancun. Photo: May 16, 2024.
The model was presented Thursday at a press conference by the Cancun Hotel Association with Directors Manuel Ricárdez and Andrés Muñoz providing technical details.
Only 5 percent of Mexican Caribbean hotels use renewable energy and depend on the energy supplied by the CFE they reported.