Tec graduate uses garbage to develop waste-to-energy facility!

Salomón Ashkenazi, a recent graduate of Engineering for Sustainable Development from the Tec’s Santa Fe campus, founded NISA Energy to achieve a more sustainable world and position Mexico as a leader in renewable energy projects.

Since its creation, this company has focused on developing energy projects and solutions, aiming to reduce the carbon footprint and solve our country’s waste problem.

Today, NISA Energía has a thermal recovery plant that uses municipal solid waste, one of the first facilities in Mexico to produce electricity and thermal energy from waste, processing more than 100 tons per day.

“What I aim to do with NISA Energy is to become a developer of infrastructure and energy projects in Mexico and Latin America,” he said.

The path toward NISA Energy

After graduating from high school in 2018, Salomón took six months off before starting his degree. During that time, he started to envision the NISA Energy of today.

Following a professor’s suggestion, he began researching waste-to-energy production and the potential development of a project in Mexico.

“We reached out to many government officials from many municipalities in the State of Mexico, Querétaro, Guanajuato, and León.”

“Most people told us it was definitely feasible in Mexico,” he said.

Later, when studying for his degree, Salomón had the opportunity to advise a family member on the installation of solar panels in their business, and NISA Energy started to develop and grow over time.

“I realized that I had the structure and the knowledge. As I learned certain things, more opportunities started to come up to continue doing solar PV projects at the same time as the waste-to-energy project,” Salomón explained.

“What I aim to do with NISA Energy is to become a developer of infrastructure and energy projects in Mexico and Latin America,” he said.

According to the recent graduate, his real opportunity came when some people from Guanajuato showed interest in his proposal of a power plant for thermal energy recovery from waste.

“We partnered up with them and developed our first electric and thermal energy facility using waste incineration.”

Salomón added that part of NISA Energy’s vision is to position itself as a Mexican energy project company that will stand out among the foreign companies leading the energy sector in Mexico.

“There are few Mexican companies that have been able to achieve large-scale development in the sector.”

“Our vision is to produce energy and develop large-scale projects for the end customer, where we manage all the development, operate the energy facilities, and beat the drum for Mexico,” he said.

One step closer to reducing the carbon footprint

One of NISA Energy’s main goals is to guide Mexican companies towards a more sustainable approach through low-cost, environmentally friendly energy solutions, said Salomón.

“Unfortunately, there are few business owners in Mexico who are aware of their company’s energy consumption or perform an efficient analysis of it.”

“Many times, they believe that more investment is needed, but in reality, the returns on investment are very good and have economic, fiscal, and sustainable benefits.”

Furthermore, the graduate emphasizes that there is currently a great need to address the energy issue in the world and develop more sustainable projects.

“Decarbonization of the sector is a very complex goal, but if we achieve it then we’re going to have a more sustainable world.”

“There is also a big global energy problem. Energy demand is not keeping pace with production; we’re consuming more and more than is produced worldwide. Mexico doesn’t produce the energy needed to supply the country,” he said.

 

“I think that if I hadn’t chosen this degree, or to do it here, I wouldn’t have made it.”

Preparation is key

Finally, Salomón said that the key to consolidating NISA Energy was preparation, research, and perseverance.

“I was that student who would stay five minutes longer and ask the professor for literature on this technology because I was interested,” he said.

He highlighted the tools that the Tec21 Model provided him with to build his own company.

“The Tec provided me with many tools on topics such as project structuring and development that were of great value and where I learned to develop the technical, financial, and commercial aspects of a project.”

“I think that if I hadn’t chosen this degree, or to do it here, I wouldn’t have made it,” he concluded.

On June 28, Salomón graduated from the Tec’s Santa Fe campus with a degree in Engineering for Sustainable Development. For his work with NISA Energy, he received the “Enterprising Student” award from the School of Engineering and Sciences.

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