Siemens' Santa Catarina plant is the group's first LEED Platinum factory in the world

In May 2022, when Siemens announced its new plant in Santa Catarina, the official press release said it would be built to LEED Gold certification.

Four years later it earned LEED Platinum, two tiers above what was promised. According to Siemens, it is the group's first factory in the world to achieve it, and the first industrial building in Mexico to do so under version 4 of the standard.

What is made there

The Mitras plant produces low-voltage circuit breakers, the devices that cut off current during an overload or a short circuit. The same site handles injection molding of the plastic parts and assembly of the components.

The volume gives a sense of scale: more than 33 million breakers a year. At the opening, the governor put it in a way that stuck: "breakers are produced, one every three seconds." Output is exported mainly to the United States and Canada.

The certification numbers

Siemens reports that the 18,700 m² building:

• Uses 40% less energy than a benchmark industrial building.
• Generates roughly 800 MWh a year of on-site solar power.
• Avoids around 2,740 tons of CO₂ annually.

One detail is worth flagging, because it does not always happen. The groundbreaking release, in September 2022, projected photovoltaic generation of 813,804 kWh per year. Four years on, what the building generates is those 800 MWh. What was drawn on paper is what it is producing.

Why Platinum is hard in a factory

LEED scores a building and splits the tiers into Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum, the last being the highest. Getting there takes more than excelling at one thing: it requires points in energy, water, materials, site and indoor air quality all at once.

In an office, much of the consumption is air conditioning and lighting, and efficient equipment solves it. A factory also carries the consumption of production itself, and here that means injection molding machines melting plastic, among the most energy-intensive there are. That 40% saving is measured against a considerably heavier baseline.

Where it fits in the state's supply chain

Nuevo León is Mexico's leading exporter of power transformers, static converters and inductors, with US$2.173 billion in 2024 according to Data México from the Ministry of Economy. That is more than Chihuahua and Baja California combined, and the main destination for that chain is the North American market.

Put simply: the state already led the country in the equipment that moves electricity. Mitras adds the equipment that protects it, for the same customer. And it does so from the most efficient industrial building in Siemens' global network.

A note on the investment figure

More than one amount circulates for this plant, and all are correct because they correspond to different moments: MXN$683 million at the May 2022 announcement, MXN$955 million at the September groundbreaking, and MXN$1.1 billion at the opening on August 13, 2024, along with 450 direct jobs.

It is also worth being precise that Mitras is an expansion, not an arrival: Siemens has operated in Santa Catarina for nearly two decades. The certified building is indeed new construction, which is why it qualifies in that category.

If your company is in this chain

• Start with Nuevo León's energy overview.
• Browse the map of industrial parks, with availability by municipality.
• Explore the state's strategic clusters and how to join their supply chains.

Sources: Siemens, Siemens Mitras, first LEED Platinum factory (March 12, 2026). Government of the State of Nuevo León, Inaugura Gobernador expansión de la Planta de SIEMENS en NL (August 13, 2024) and Invertirá Siemens 683 mdp en NL (May 30, 2022). Ministry of Economy, Data México.