In Oaxaca, they blow away high prices

Here’s something I never heard of. I don’t know if this is just one of those ingenious solutions to an immediate problem or a world-wide trend I wouldn’t have seen if I didn’t read such scintillating literature as the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports (Mexican Food and Drink Report Q1 2007) in an Irish business publication.

Supermarkets are expanding into the Mexican campo. Energy costs are going up, and are a huge portion of supermarket overhead. So, look what Soriana’s up to

…the start of the year has been characterized by retailers taking dramatic steps to lower costs, implying that the increasing competition in the sector is putting margins under pressure. The way was led, in January, by second-largest retailer Soriana – with estimated sales of US$4.8bn in 2006, and still largely family owned – when it announced that it intends to invest, along with four partners, US$300mn to construct a wind-farm with a generating capacity of up to 396 megawatts in San Dionisio de Mar, in the southern state of Oaxaca. Wind speeds in Oaxaca reach up to 70kph. The plant is due to be operational ‘sometime in the second half of 2009’.

With electricity prices now representing 15% of Soriana’s overall operational costs, and with the price of electricity continuing to climb above inflation, the percentage could rise to almost 20% by the end of the decade. This would cause even more food and drink price rises than Soriana says it was forced to implement in 2006. Soriana’s partners in the project are Vientos de Istmo, based in Oaxaca, Spanish firm Preneal, the consulting group IG Expansiòn, and German financial services group Deutsche Bank. The author understands that Walmex, not to be outdone, is about to announce the construction of a wind-farm in the southern state of Oaxaca as well, with a capacity of 67.5 megawatts.

Windmills on the supermarkets for lower meat prices? Who’d have thought Oaxaca was ahead of the curve?

You know what also blows? My electric bill is $152 this month, and the Mex Files has to depend on contributions to keep the lights on and the computer humming…