First difference: the regime
Below 0.7 MW there is no generation permit. Between 0.7 and 20 MW, for interconnected self-supply, there is a permit with a possible simplified procedure before the National Energy Commission (Comisión Nacional de Energía). Above that, the ordinary route.
And there is a different fork that depends not on capacity but on destination: if the energy goes to the Wholesale Electricity Market (Mercado Eléctrico Mayorista) instead of your own consumption, the legal category is different — generation for the market, under article 35 — with its own set of obligations, its price exposure and its relationship with the system operator.
A 15 MW self-supply project and a 15 MW market project share the size and almost nothing else.
Second difference: capital and timeline
At this scale the project is no longer financed off the company's balance sheet and starts to be structured: long-term capital, terms of fifteen to twenty years or more, and a financial counterparty that will run its own risk analysis before committing funds.
That changes what has to be delivered. An investment-grade study stops being good practice and becomes a requirement: an adjusted baseline, a measurement and verification plan, quantified uncertainty and sensitivity runs. Without that there is no conversation with the lender.
And equipment lead times start to drive the schedule. At this scale some components have lead times measured in many months, and no proposal should carry an operation date without confirmation from the supplier that same week.
| Dimension | Less than 0.7 MW | From 0.7 to 20 MW | More than 20 MW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regime | Exempt generator: no generation permit | Generation permit; for interconnected self-supply, possible simplified procedure before the CNE | Generation permit via the ordinary route |
| Capital | Company balance sheet | From balance sheet to structured capital; above 10 MW, structured | Long-term, structured capital |
| Timeline | Set by construction; interconnection is a formality | The permit and interconnection set the schedule | Fifteen to twenty years or more; equipment with lead times of many months |
| Counterparty | The company itself | Above 10 MW, the lender and its risk analysis | Financial counterparty that requires investment grade and performance guarantees |
Third difference: interconnection rules
In a small project interconnection is a formality. In one of this scale it is the factor that decides the site, the capacity and the date.
And the analysis is reversed: instead of designing the project and asking whether the grid will accept it, you start from what the grid can take at the candidate points and design within that. Projects of this scale that are approached the other way around usually die in the study.
That is also why, at this scale, location is evaluated before technology. Available capacity, access to gas where applicable, and the connection route weigh more than the choice of equipment.
Fourth difference: who answers for performance
In a rooftop project, if it produces less than projected, someone has an uncomfortable conversation. In one of this scale, if it produces less than committed, there are contractual consequences.
That is why availability commitments, performance guarantees with penalties and long-term operation and maintenance contracts appear at this scale. They are not commercial embellishments: they are how the project becomes financeable.
They are also why the operator matters as much as the equipment. A poorly operated asset of this scale loses production silently, and the loss accumulates over twenty years.
How this is split within the group
We are an energy group with four decades of lineage in mission-critical electrical infrastructure and cogeneration, and that lineage includes projects at the scale of tens of megawatts. We say it plainly because it is why we can hold a conversation at this scale instead of referring it to someone else.
GIS Power develops the projects that require a generation permit, market participation or long-term capital, and is currently evaluating projects above ten megawatts. It is the group company with completed work at that scale.
GTO Energy CO does its own part on projects of any size: the metering and diagnostics that feed the sizing, the facility survey, the electrical infrastructure inside the fence line, protection coordination and the reliability contract that sustains the asset after construction.
For you the practical consequence is just one: you can bring the whole project to a single table, and sorting it by regime, by capacity and by group company is our job, not yours. If your project turns out to be utility scale, we do not send you looking for someone else — we develop it within the group.
Sources
Electricity Sector Law, DOF March 18, 2025 · Regulations of the Electricity Sector Law, DOF October 3, 2025. Articles 17, 18, 19, 25, 30, 32, 35, 42 and 151.
The financial structuring and performance guarantee features at this scale are market practice, not regulation, and are presented as such. What has a legal basis are the legal categories and the capacity thresholds.
With three facts: where, how much capacity, and whether for your own consumption or for the market. With those three we place the regime and tell you what can be confirmed in weeks and what requires a study. And who in the group develops it.
