Minera Autlan, North America’s largest producer of alloys used to make steel, plans to spend $150 million to build power plants as Mexico’s energy industry opens to competition.

Mexico’s only producer of ferroalloys and manganese is looking to construct hydropower and wind plants to reduce electricity costs and sell power to third parties, Chief Financial Officer Gustavo Cardenas said in a phone interview yesterday. Autlan has saved around $4.5 million in electricity costs this year after acquiring Cia. de Energia Mexicana SA and its Atexcaco hydroelectric plant, Cardenas said.

“One of our top priorities is to reduce our own generation costs, which we’ve been able to do by 39 percent this year,” Cardenas said from the company’s headquarters in San Pedro Garza Garcia. “One way to do that is through the generation of energy with projects of diverse sources, such as hydroelectric and wind.”

Mexico’s state-owned utility, Comision Federal de Electricidad, controls more than three-fourths of the nation’s power supply, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Legislation approved by Mexican lawmakers last year allows private companies to produce more power as the nation turns away from monopolies that have

controlled oil and electricity output.

Autlan has surged 54 percent this year, the most among industry peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization more than doubled in the third quarter from a year earlier, while operating income more than quadrupled on lower electricity costs, according to Cardenas.

Autlan could seek financing in capital markets to fund future projects, Cardenas said. The company, whose alloys are used in steel production, hopes to become the world’s lowest-cost producer of manganese within five years, Cardenas said.

• [Editor:Sophie]