Concentrated Solar Power in Mexico: Industrial Development and Perspectives for a National Value Chain

Dr Jorge Marcial Islas Samperio is a physicist and holds a Master's degree in Energy Engineering from UNAM, as well as a PhD in Energy Economics from the University of Grenoble in France. He is a C-grade Senior Researcher at UNAM and holds Level II status in the National System of Researchers. His work has focused on the energy transition, renewable energy, climate change mitigation and the sustainable use of bioenergy. He has published 50 scientific articles, 5 books, 18 book chapters and 19 intellectual property registrations, and has led 28 research projects. He currently serves as Under-Secretary for Planning and Energy Transition at the Ministry of Energy.

Adriana Aragón holds a Master's degree in Environmental Economics from the University of East Anglia (United Kingdom) and a Specialization in Energy and Environmental Policy and Management from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO, Mexico). She has worked in the public sector at the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and the Ministry of Energy, leading initiatives on energy sustainability and climate policy, and coordinating federal government energy efficiency projects implemented in partnership with the World Bank. Since 2020, she has led energy programmes at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. She currently coordinates the Mexican-German Energy Partnership, a project implemented on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy since 2016.

Mr Fidel Carrasco González is Coordinator at the Under-Secretariat for Energy Planning and Transition within Mexico's Ministry of Energy. He has over 20 years' experience in the energy sector, specialising in renewable energy, energy efficiency, climate change and international cooperation. He has held positions in the public, academic and private sectors, and has worked as a consultant for international development organisations. He is an Electrical Engineer and holds a Master of Science in Renewable Energy.

Santiago Vásquez is Co-Executive Director of i3T and specializes in designing and implementing complex public procurement projects for industrial transformation, productive-capacity development, and technology transfer in Latin America and Africa, working as a specialist with the United Nations, UNICEF and ECLAC. As part of i3T's program of work, he currently collaborates with Brazil's Ministry of Management and Innovation on the implementation of the country's National Public Procurement Strategy for Sustainable Development, with a focus on technology-intensive public procurement and sustainable industrial transformation.

She holds a degree in Renewable Energy Engineering and a Master's degree in Sustainable Systems Engineering from Albert-Ludwig University in Freiburg, Germany, and has seven years of specialized experience in solar thermal energy. She has led engineering projects in solar process heat in Mexico and currently works as a research scientist in the Department of Concentrated Solar Power Technologies at Fraunhofer ISE-Europe's largest solar energy institute. Her work focuses on the modeling, simulation, and optimization of solar thermal power plants for electricity generation and solar process heat systems for industrial processes.