City Overview

La Paz is the capital city of Baja California Sur and an important regional commercial center. The city is also the entrance to one of the world's most diverse and largest biomarine habitats. The city is currently not connected to the rest of the Mexican electricity grid, it has high pollution levels, mostly stemming from the operation of four obsolete electric plants that use very low-grade fuel oil; they are the highest GHG emitters in the city. The project will facilitate catalyzing investments for sustainable cities through increased investments in sustainable cities initiatives enhancements in local, national, and/or global programs on sustainable cities based on IAP engagement. It will focus on a series of stand-alone solar plants for La Paz’s public buildings. The possible activity to be carried out is building seven rooftop solar power plants in a series of local and state government buildings and two public schools. The project will provide the following benefits: (i) diversify the local energy matrix; (ii) reduce an estimated 39,700 tons CO2eq throughout the plants’ life cycle; and (iii) reduce energy costs for the municipality. The aggregated solar PV power plants will produce 1840 MWh of energy on average per year during their lifetime. It is estimated that the energy produced will cover 48.2% of electricity consumption in municipal and state public buildings during its first operational year.