The Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the United States Department of Energy on Thursday defended the involvement of the private sector in the generation of clean energy in Mexico and warned of the risks of legal reform that would disrupt the current system.
“Private sector investment is critical for Mexico to achieve its clean energy goals. However, the necessary investments will be difficult if changes are made to the legal frameworks of the current electricity market,” the NREL said in a report.
The research laboratory, attached to the Department of Energy, concluded that Mexico can become “a clean energy power” due to its large untapped solar and wind resources.
According to his calculations, the Latin American country has the potential to generate 25,000 gigawatts (GW) in solar energy, 3,700 GW in wind energy, 2.5 GW in geothermal energy and 1.2 GW in hydropower, which would meet 100 times Mexico's electricity needs.
He assured that “with sufficient investment from the private sector,” Mexico could quickly take advantage of this potential and meet its goal of achieving 35% clean energy generation by 2024.
The Mexican Congress is debating a constitutional reform promoted by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which aims to limit private sector participation in the energy market to 46%.
In addition, the initiative prioritizes energy generated by the fossil plants of the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) over renewable energy plants in the private sector.
López Obrador said Thursday that he has discussed the issue with the US authorities in several meetings, but told them that they should not “intervene” in Mexican energy policy.
He even revealed that “an official of the US Government's Energy Secretariat sent a threatening letter” accusing Mexico of “violating” the trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC).
WITH INFORMATION FROM EFE
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