Mexico suffers wind regression

MEXICO CITY - Mexico is going backwards in terms of wind energy.

The country, along with eight others, is among the nations facing a lack of progress or regression in the implementation of wind energy, according to the Global Wind Report 2023, conducted by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

Mexico is accompanied on the list by countries such as Argentina, Peru, Nigeria, Tanzania and Thailand, which were placed within a red traffic light.

Ramón Fiestas, president of the GWEC, explained that those countries that are in regression are because they have neither the policies nor the political will to allow the development of new projects, so there is no longer an opportunity for new investments in this area.

"The red light is that there is neither political will anymore, as in the case of Mexico (where) there is a regulation that comes from the past and that was inhabiting the development of projects, but what does not exist is a political will to open the market to these projects and as a consequence the regulation is not being complied with, with which it is in notorious red, it is no longer an issue of lack of interest from investors, but of impossibility.

"There is a refusal to grant permits and to process renewable energy projects of the private initiative, which makes it impossible to develop projects," Fiestas maintained.

He recalled that 2019 was the year in which Mexico stood out for being the country in Latin America in which more wind energy was installed, but these are projects that began in 2017, in the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto, and took up to two years to be built. After that, the sector came to a standstill.

He even pointed out that the development of electric grids, which are indispensable for new renewable power plants to consolidate, stopped with the current federal government.

Different priorities

The momentum of wind energy in the world is advancing, but in some countries there are difficulties or lack of government interest in its use.

SOME COUNTRIES AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION:

Red (No interest)

-Mexico

-Argentina

-Peru

-Nigeria

-Ethiopia

Yellow (interest but with challenges)

-Canada

-Colombia

-Chile

-Japan

-South Africa

Green (High momentum)

-United States

-Brazil

-India

-China

-Australia

Source: Global Wind Report 2023