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The United States may be going backward with renewable energy, trying to drag people back into a pollution-filled world powered by coal and other fossil resources, but its neighbor to the south, led by a climate scientist, has just awarded 20 renewable energy projects with a combined total of 3.3 gigawatts of contracts.
In total, $4.75 billion will be invested (by private companies) across 11 Mexican states. As has been the trend for several years now, the bulk of those projects representing the bulk of the new power capacity will be solar power projects. Of the 20 projects, 15 will be solar power projects, and they will total 2,471 MW of power capacity. The other 5 projects will be wind power projects totaling 849 MW of power capacity. These 20 projects were the winners out of 98 projects submitted in the tender.
In addition, 1,488 MW of energy storage projects received awards. (Sorry, just have the MW figure, not MWh.)
While we don’t have company names, the projects are supposed to get underway immediately, so expect announcements from major players in the industry soon. Land has reportedly been secured for all of them and permits approved.
The 20 projects will be located in the following Mexican states: Campeche, Hidalgo, Yucatán, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Tamaulipas, Quintana Roo, Puebla, Veracruz, Zacatecas, and Querétaro.
In addition to the projects noted above, Mexico Energy Minister Luz Elena González announced at a press conference just before Christmas that the government would also build three solar power projects and nearly $2 billion worth of energy infrastructure in order to support these private market efforts. (Ah, imagine having such thoughtful, intelligent, forward-thinking leadership in the federal government….)
The “vast majority” of these projects are expected to go into operation in 2028, while others will achieve operations in 2027 and 2029.
“Via its call for proposals in October, the Energy Ministry was seeking to find private companies to build renewable projects that together would add around 6,000 additional megawatts of generation capacity,” Mexico Daily News reports. If you’ve done the quick math, you can see that the awarded 3.3 GW is barely more than half of that total. Another tender is planned for late next month to get to the 6 GW target.
Mexico still has a long way to go, though. The country gets the vast majority of its electricity from fossil gas (aka “natural gas”) power plants, and more such power plants are also getting built. Solar and wind power are a tiny slice of the country’s electricity supply at the moment. Considering Mexico’s vast solar and wind energy resources, including offshore wind power potential in the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, it’s a shame that these clean, free resources aren’t being tapped more already. However, hopefully the current administration will work hard to get the country’s electricity supply modernized and cleaned up. Without a doubt, solar power and wind power should provide the cheapest options for new power capacity in most of the country, especially considering the fact that Mexico has not slapped enormous tariffs on Chinese solar modules, wind turbines, and other products.
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