Mexico Plans New Power Generation and Storage Tenders in May

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Written by Amir Richani for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Mexico will launch new tenders for power generation and storage as it seeks to increase the share of renewables to 38% by 2030. The government also announced efforts to expedite permit approvals and ease red tape for projects of 20 MW or less.

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Mexico's Efforts

The Mexican Minister of Energy, Luz Elena Gonzalez Escobar, said in early May that the government aims to increase the share of electricity generated from renewable sources from the current 24% to 38% by 2030. The government will launch three calls this month to develop 3.3 gigawatts (GW) of power capacity and 1 GW of energy storage.

According to Industrial Info Resources data, there are 342 renewable energy projects across Mexico, worth US$31 billion.

One of the tenders will target private investments, another will target private-public partnerships, and the third will target storage capacity.

The government has been emphatic about maintaining 54% of power generation through the state-owned Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), while the remaining 46% will be supplied by the private sector.

Gonzalez also announced that the government is reviewing 81 private-public partnership projects for the ongoing call to develop 11 GW of renewable power capacity. The final decision on those proposals will be announced in May.

To meet its renewable energy target by 2030, Gonzalez announced that CFE is currently building 13 power plants, another four were tendered, and two more will be tendered to add a total of 11 GW capacity. The total portfolio to meet the renewables target includes 22.1 GW, plus about 6.1 GW of storage, worth investments of 622.4 billion Mexican pesos (about US$36 billion).

From the total capacity, the state company will contribute 11.2 GW of generation capacity and 3 GW of storage, amounting to investments of 319.2 billion pesos (approximately US$18.4 billion).

Additionally, the CFE is currently building seven natural gas power plants, another four were tendered, and two more will be tendered to add a total of 9.8 GW capacity.

Speeding Up Permits

The Mexican government also announced the unification of permits from five entities to reduce permit time by 60% from 2 ½ years, with the objective of speeding up developments and meeting energy production goals.

"We are developing tools that will facilitate these investments and fundamentally reduce red tape," said Gonzalez.

At the same time, the government eased the bureaucracy for projects of 20 MW or less, which are not connected to the grid and are used for private consumption. They will require only a single permit. This change allows the development of distributed systems for self-consumption, reducing the burden on the state company to meet demand.

In April, the government published its new energy storage regulation, opening new investment pathways and supporting system reliability as wind and solar penetration grows.

Key Takeaways

• Mexico will announce a new tender of 3.3 GW of power generation capacity and 1 GW of storage in May.
• The government forecasts renewable projects of 22.1 GW worth 622.4 billion Mexican pesos.
• Mexico introduces policies to speed up permitting for projects by 60%.

About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 Trillion (USD).