Wind energy policies in NL and in the country are a blow to wind energy

During the past year, the installed capacity of wind farms for electricity generation slowed down sharply in Nuevo León and the country due to the policies of the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, warned businessmen from this sector.

At a national level, they detailed, the capacity grew in 2022 only 2.2 percent, a rate that contrasts with the 7.1 percent in 2021 and the average annual rate of 24.7 percent in the last 12 years.

The deceleration, they explained, responds to regulatory changes that affected private producers of clean energies in order to benefit state-owned companies, CFE and Pemex, which consume fossil fuels.

"The current (federal) Administration stopped the development of long-term (electricity) auctions, which at the time involved investments of 3.5 billion dollars," states the Nuevo León Energy Cluster in a report citing information from the Mexican Wind Energy Association (AMDEE).

"2022 will go down in history as a year of little wind growth, and Nuevo León will not be the exception," states the analysis, which did not specify state growth.

These obstacles come at a time when investors are demanding more and more renewable energies from Mexico.

EL NORTE published on Friday that Germany, through its Ambassador to Mexico, Wolfgang Dold, warned that its companies require green energy alternatives, especially because by 2030 they will have to meet the requirements of the U.S. market.

Roberto Mercado, commercial director of Epscon, an energy purchase consultant, said that the current government has not given importance to clean energies because it is trying to strengthen state-owned companies, which is why it has slowed down auctions and generation permits.

"Since the beginning of this six-year term," Mercado exemplified, "they indefinitely suspended the fourth electric energy auction, even when the last auction (held) imposed a global record price."

In 2018, the Country was expected to reach a figure of 16 thousand megawatts (MW) in installed capacity by 2024, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

"The current federal administration's shift towards greater use of fossil fuels and hydraulic energy," the Nuevo Leon Cluster pointed out, "caused the projection to be cut to only 9 thousand MW for that year."

The AMDEE revealed that in 2022 there was an installed capacity of 7,312 MW in the country.

Stifled growth

The current federal government has hindered wind power generation, stifling its expansion.

(% growth of installed wind energy capacity)

2013 31%

2014 38%

2018 24%

2022 2%

2020 9%

SOURCE: Prepared by EL NORTE with AMDEE data.