New wind power installation forecasted in Mexico for this year is 650MW, including projects Venta III and Oaxaca I, II, III, and IV, which will soon enable to reach 1,000 MW of installed wind power. 18 permits for wind farms construction have been granted in the Oaxaca area, while applications for permits for Baja California, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Veracruz and recently Chiapas have been received. The Mexican government has to grant about thirty permits.
Mexico is therefore seeking to design a public policy to harness this wind potential at any point of the national electricity system where favourable conditions for their development exist. Similarly, a National Energy Strategy is under design, to define Mexico overall renewable energy mix for the next few years.
Current demand growth is 5%, so that for the next fifteen years, Mexico is facing the creation of the necessary electricity infrastructure to undertake the installation of wind farms and other renewable energy plants.
Thus, the Government of the Republic, led by President Calderon decided to change the regulatory framework from the base, and create new schemes that encourage the participation of renewable energy without granting subsidies. Among the measures, the “open season” allows the Federal Commission of Electricity (CFE) be aware of private investors demand and the need for transmission lines to install the wind farms and favour joint investment to carry out better planning and promotion of renewable energy.
Another measure is the determination of the methodology to identify distribution costs in remote sites, favouring the so-called energy bank, through measurement of the grid load and reducing the transport costs of energy from renewable sources as well as offering new interconnection agreements, to encourage the participation of small scale renewable energy.
As reported, these actions have been key elements in the sector transformation, as they generate legal certainty with clear rules, to encourage greater investment in our country and make this sector an active part of regional economic development.
In the context of wind energy evolution in Mexico, the country will host WindPower 2013, which will be Mexico’s most important international exhibition and conference program and will be organized by GWEC and AMDEE together with EJK.
This business forum will bring together the professional community including among many others those responsible for the creation of sustainable energy strategies, policies and regulation, project development companies’ leaders, components and equipment manufacturers, technical and financial services providers or responsible in charge of research and development activities.
Mexico WindPower 2013 will be held on 30 and 31 January 2013 at the Banamex Center and offer a 5,000 m2 surface for exhibition of products and services for the wind energy industry. It will convene tier-one suppliers involved in the industry value chain. Furthermore, national and international experts who have developed successful technologies and solutions in the field of wind resources use will also attend.
Mexico WindPower 2013 will present a parallel program of high-level conferences focused on the national agenda for developing the country”s wind potential. The program is designed to impact significantly on public and private decisions about planning, organization and operation of the national wind energy program.
