The French utility company Engie has begun distributing natural gas in the Bajío region, an area made up of 22 municipalities in the states of Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas.

Among the cities that are covered by the new service are Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Celaya, Salamanca, Irapuato, Silao, León, Villa de Reyes and Lagos de Moreno.

The company already distributes natural gas in México state, Jalisco, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Tampico, Tamaulipas and Querétaro, where it collectively has about 500,000 residential and commercial customers.

The first client to take advantage of the service in its seventh distribution region was dairy producer Productos LDM in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco.

After the plant’s new gas valve was opened, the CEO of Engie México said the company’s expansion plans are progressing well and explained that its goal is to reach one million customers in the coming years.

“. . . This important region of the country offers us more business opportunities,” Fernando Tovar said.

In an interview with Notimex, the company’s distribution director, Álvaro Corona, said plans are well advanced to provide natural gas in the Yucatán capital Mérida and that Campeche, Hidalgo and Colima are also on the list.

Engie has gradually increased its presence since it first started distributing natural gas in Mexico 20 years ago.

It has also diversified its business interests by moving into the renewable energy sector and is currently developing five solar and two wind projects, which are backed by a US $800-million investment. Together they will have the capacity to add more than 925 megawatts of clean energy to the national grid.

Over the past five years, Engie has invested more than US $2 billion in new projects in Mexico.

Apart from its natural gas and renewable interests, the company also operates two power stations with a capacity to generate 345 megawatts of electricity.

Source: El Economista (sp), 20 Minutos (sp)