The plant's energy demand
Published in the World Journal of Engineering and Technology, the study draws on a plant visit, discussions with maintenance and production staff, and electricity billing records. Its authors are affiliated with the University of La Cienega of the State of Michoacan de Ocampo and the Polytechnic University of the Valley of Mexico. The three systems are proposals, not reported installations.
RÍO NUEVO processes cooked broccoli, mango and berries. Its production line includes sorting, washing, cooking, cooling, packaging and refrigerated storage, requiring both electricity and heat. Broccoli processing is concentrated in March, April, September and October, while mango deliveries run from February through July.
For May 2024 through April 2025, the study's billing table records electricity use of 3,496,547 kWh and charges of MXN 9,315,915.08 (US$465,795.75). Historical LP gas costs for broccoli processing from November through June totaled MXN 1,006,460 (US$50,323). The steam boiler, used for cooking broccoli, is the plant's main LP gas consumer.
The plant uses CFE's GDMTH electricity tariff for large users supplied at medium voltage with time-of-use pricing. In a January 16, 2025, report citing consultancy Quartux, Energía Hoy said CFE had raised industrial tariffs by about 12% for 2025, with GDMTH, DIST and DIT most affected. That analysis put tariff changes between September 2023 and September 2024 at 3.39% to 3.89%, depending on region and time period. The RÍO NUEVO study does not attribute its proposals to the 2025 increase.
The processor operates in Mexico's leading agricultural export state. According to INEGI figures cited by Michoacán's economic development secretariat, Sedeco, on December 30, 2025, agricultural exports reached US$825.5 million in the third quarter of 2025. They accounted for 64% of the state's US$1,289 million in total exports. Michoacán's agricultural export base includes avocado, berries, lemon and mango.
Broccoli waste could fuel a generator, but not year-round
The biogas proposal uses a waste stream that the plant already produces. Plant head Ramón Romero Campos reported that processing about 40 metric tons of broccoli a day leaves roughly 20 metric tons of stems and leaves. The researchers used that amount as a peak-season feedstock estimate, not a continuous annual supply.
Their design draws on published digestion results of 22 liters of biogas per kilogram of broccoli material after an 18- to 20-day retention period. With methane content of at least 55%, an estimated 440 cubic meters of biogas a day would fuel a 70 kW engine-generator for 10.48 hours daily. The researchers excluded mango waste because its estimated methane content, 26.6%, was too low.
Seasonality remains a central limitation: the study anticipates four months each year without biogas production because broccoli waste would be unavailable. The proposed generator would therefore supplement the plant's electricity supply rather than provide uninterrupted year-round generation.
The project also reflects an opportunity identified nationally by the World Biogas Association. Its "Biogas Policy and Market Briefing: Mexico 2025," produced with the Mexican Association of Biomass and Biogas and published July 16, 2025, describes a sector that remains less developed than other Mexican renewable energy industries. It identifies municipal, agricultural and industrial waste as substantial potential resources and reports that fossil fuels supplied 84.8% of Mexico's total energy in 2023.
Available space sets the scale of solar power
For electricity generation, the researchers sized an array of 962 photovoltaic modules, each rated at 660 W, for an available area of 5,000 square meters. They estimate that it could supply 30.48% of the plant's annual electricity consumption and save US$143,616.40 (MXN 2,872,328.00). Available land limits how much photovoltaic generation the proposal can accommodate.
The calculations use NASA POWER solar irradiation data for the plant's location from November 2024 through June 2025. The average over that period was 5.76 kWh per square meter per day.
Commercial and industrial customers are already prominent in Mexico's solar expansion. Intersolar Mexico reports that the country added approximately 1.6 GW of photovoltaic capacity in 2024, reaching about 12.6 GW in total. Distributed generation accounted for a substantial part of the expansion, with annual additions above 1 GW, driven mainly by those customers.
Intersolar Mexico also places the country within the Sun Belt and among North America's strongest solar-resource areas. Its market information puts long-term annual photovoltaic yields above 2,000 kWh/kWp in northern and northwestern Mexico. Even the lower-irradiation southeast typically exceeds 1,300 kWh/kWp, compared with 1,000 to 1,100 kWh/kWp in southern Germany. Those regional figures are separate from the site-specific irradiation data used for RÍO NUEVO.
Solar collectors would reduce boiler fuel needs
The third proposal targets heat rather than electricity. Solar collectors would raise incoming boiler water from 22°C to 90°C, reducing the heat that LP gas must supply. The study estimates a 48.3% reduction in LP gas costs from this preheating step.
The paper lists the boiler's rating as 1,205 HP (898 kW), with incoming water at 22°C and steam output at 134°C. The solar system would preheat the water, not replace the boiler.
According to Intersolar Mexico, the country is among Latin America's leading solar thermal markets and has a particularly strong industrial solar heat sector. Such systems can provide low- and medium-temperature heat for food processing and other industries.
Intersolar Mexico cites payback periods of one to five years for several residential, hospitality and commercial solar thermal applications. Those figures are not payback estimates for the proposed RÍO NUEVO boiler-water system.
