CANCÚN, Q. Roo, December 7, 2010.
CGCS-227.
The President of the United Mexican States, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, participated today in the High-Level Meeting on Solutions to Climate Change: Towards a Joint Vision of the Public-Private Sectors, within the framework of the Green Solutions Fair, and as part of the activities at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP16).
Before Government Ministers, Executives and Executives of national and international companies and Presidents of the main business chambers of the country, President Calderón referred to the responsibility of the public and private sectors to face climate change and create the conditions to advance in the search for agreements and shared solutions.
He stressed the need to usher in a new era of effective government-business climate cooperation, to achieve sustainable economic growth that combats poverty and promotes the exploitation of the opportunities represented by the transition to a low-carbon productive and commercial economy.
During this High-Level Meeting, representatives of key governments in the COP16 negotiations and business leaders recognized the important role of dialogue between the two sectors in the transition to a sustainable economy, as well as the prominent role of private initiative in multilateral negotiations on environmental matters.
Among some topics addressed are ecological and renewable energies, investment technology and public policies, joint government-business actions in terms of low greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable development, adaptation of companies to climate change, as well as possible alternatives in the energy, tourism, technology and telecommunications sectors.
At the end of the meeting, the President expressed his appreciation to business leaders for their active participation in the framework of COP16 and because they understand that corporate responsibility is more than a commonplace; it is a deep link between the private sector and society.
He urged them that when they return to their countries of origin, they share this sense of urgency that is needed to act against global warming and to spread with their colleagues and compatriots the ideas that have been addressed here in Cancun.
President Calderón was accompanied by the Secretaries of Foreign Affairs, Environment and Natural Resources, Economy, Finance and Energy: Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada, Bruno Ferrari García de Alba, Ernesto Cordero Arroyo and Georgina Kessel Martínez, respectively.
Twenty Government Ministers from the Regions of Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America also attended.
Also present were the Presidents of the Business Coordinating Council, Mario Sánchez Ruiz; of the Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism, Jórge Dávila, and of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers of Mexico, Salomón Presburger, respectively.
He highlighted the participation of the directors of Iberdrola (Spain), Environmental Sustainability (United States), Dongfang (China), Safran (France), International Emissions Trading Association (Switzerland), Rubenius (Dubai), NGK Insulators (Japan), Masdar (United Arab Emirates), BMW and Siemens (Germany) and Nextel and CYDSA (Mexico).
The event was attended by special guests, such as the Mexican Nobel Prize, Dr. Mario Molina; the Vice-President of Climate Change Capital, James Cameron, and the President of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, Lord Nicholas Stern.
Message to the Media from the President of the United Mexican States, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, at COP16
Good afternoon, friends.
Friends of the media.
Specialists, entrepreneurs in the energy sector.
We have prepared this meeting to inform and make known to you, and to the general public, that Mexico has completed the Atlas of Wind and Solar Renewable Resources, which constitutes a powerful information platform, which places our country at the forefront in studies of alternative energy prospecting.
This is a full-length photograph of the enormous potential of renewable energy in the country. In light of this Atlas of Renewable Wind and Solar Resources of Mexico, we have been able to observe that few nations in the world have the diversity and richness of renewable resources that we Mexicans have.
These are abundant, clean energy sources that will surely boost the well-being and progress of the new generations throughout the national territory.
Unlike gas or oil, these energies do not run out, they do not pollute and promote, precisely, green growth, which is the key element of what is being discussed today in Cancun, in the Climate Change Convention.
The Atlas that we present today consists of a digitized database of maps, where you can locate the areas of the country with the greatest potential for generating electricity from the wind and from the sun.
It is a georeferenced system in which the monthly behavior of solar irradiation and wind strength is recorded in various localities and regions.
I want to tell you that the system is already on the Internet. It can be consulted through the website of the Ministry of Energy, of the Mexican Government. It is, then, a tool that will be available to the public, available to investors, to the disposal of authorities at all levels of government.
And it is an avant-garde tool of incalculable economic, social and environmental value, which will allow precise decision-making for both investors and the Government itself.
The study also facilitates the comparison of information with other countries. Internationally applied methods are used. There are many advantages that this system allows, since it allows:
First. Quantify the volumes of energy that wind and solar sources can contribute to the National Electric System.
Second. Have strategic information in the three levels of Government, to improve the planning of projects aimed at the use of renewable resources.
Third. Direct investments towards the areas with the greatest potential for energy generation from wind and sun.
Room. Give renewed impetus to research, innovation and the development of green energy.
Fifth. Meet the clean energy production goals embodied in the National Energy Strategy and which are aimed at reaching 26 percent by 2012, of renewable energy in our country, of the entire electricity supply.
On the whole. For the first time in the history of Mexico we have an updated, well-systematized information platform of our wind and solar resources. It is a solid and indispensable basis to continue advancing in the care of our renewable energy sources and in the sustainable use.
This morning I was talking to investors, present here, and I corroborated information that we intuitively perceived, we knew, and that is, precisely, the area of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, for example, is the area with the greatest potential for wind energy in the world, we knew that it was, or the most profitable, of those that have the greatest potential in the world.
This gives a great advantage to our country. Beyond the wide map base it offers. The Atlas reveals Mexico's energy potential in wind energy, a truly important figure. The potential that is calculated from this Atlas is 71 thousand megawatts of capacity.
Why this data is significant. Let me tell you, if we add up all the capacity that is already installed in Mexico, the Laguna Verde nuclear plant, the large hydroelectric plants that have been built throughout the history of the country, all the combined cycle plants, all the thermoelectric plants, even the generators that are now wind, the installed capacity that is in Mexico is 51 thousand megawatts.
That is, the wind potential we have discovered is 71 thousand megawatts, which is much more than all the installed capacity currently in the country. In other words: the wind in Mexico could provide all the energy that Mexico needs, currently, and that it will need in a good stretch of the future.
It should be noted that in 22 states there are areas with sufficient winds to install large-scale wind farms, with plant factors greater than 20 percent. Also, let's put this into perspective.
What it means.
In 22 states of the Republic you can put wind plants, with much higher yield than the average of the wind plants of Germany, which has a plant factor of 18 percent or less.
In this Government we have given an unprecedented boost to the development of wind projects. In four years, for example, in terms of wind-driven energy, in four years, Mexico did what some developed nations, such as Spain, for example, took twice as long in wind.
Our country is already recognized, of course, as the leading country in Latin America in energy produced from the force of the wind; and last year it was the country that had the highest growth rate in the installation of wind power generators worldwide.
Let's go for more.
For example, a few days ago, the construction of another wind project began, Los Vergeles, in Tamaulipas, with a capacity of 161 megawatts; Last week, the Bimbo Group announced the construction of the Piedra Larga Wind Farm in Oaxaca, with a capacity of 90 megawatts.
The wind turbine itself, which was installed a week ago, began operating here, a week ago, very symbolically, in the Riviera Maya, and which has already generated, we estimated today, 80 megawatts / hour, providing, precisely, electricity for the region, and specifically for the Climate Change Convention and others.
Another thing that the Atlas contributes, which from today will be available to the public: to make known, also, the solar potential of Mexico, which, as said in the video we have just seen, is a potential that is above the leading countries in the field of solar energy.
Although this is a technology that still requires enormous development, in Mexico the average solar irradiation fluctuates between 5 and 6 kilowatt hours per square meter per day, 5 or 6 kilowatts / hour per square meter per day, which is up to 70 percent better, 70 percent higher than that of the large solar developments installed in the world. Hence mexico's enormous potential.
Also in the conversations I had this morning, we started what I hope we can announce soon, an investment in a project, in a conservation park, of accumulation of renewable energy reserve in Mexicali, which can reach the order of four billion dollars when established in Mexico.
Hopefully soon we can give the precise details of this great investment, but the fact is that Mexico's potential in terms of solar energy also places it, precisely, as one of the countries that will be leaders in the world, once the respective technology is developed, or even before, precisely, to the extent that we open space to the respective financing.
To get the most out of the renewable resources we have in Mexico, we need to overcome the technological and administrative challenges that continue to be posed to us.
In the case of wind and solar sources, it is clear that we must innovate to create more efficient systems and to continue to lower the costs of energy production.
This is an urgent task that requires the active participation of technologists, scientists, environmentalists, political scientists and entrepreneurs. Only in this way will we be able to take advantage of the full natural potential of renewable resources.
Ladies and gentlemen.
Technological conversion towards sustainable energy sources is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
With various actions of the Mexican Government, such as, for example, the improvement in interconnection rates by the Federal Electricity Commission, with the improvement in the portage rates of the Commission itself, with the improvement in backup rates, and with the open and determined support of the Government for the management of wind farms in the country; Now with the creation of this Atlas of Wind and Solar Renewable Resources, Mexicans endorse our commitment and our determination to make Mexico a country placed on the path of sustainable development. A country put on the path to a low-carbon economy.
In the framework of the COP16 negotiations, all countries know the importance of reaching agreements on mitigation. And it is so, simply and simply, because the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions is the path that will allow us to prevent the adverse effects of climate change and achieve the goal of stabilizing global temperature.
Now, with this Atlas that we now present, we already know how much Mexico can produce of energy without emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This is great news, which we wanted to share with all of you today.
With this conviction, with these actions and others that we are studying to continue facilitating renewable energy projects, especially cogeneration, mini-hydraulics and other mini-projects, Mexico will continue to actively participate in all the actions that the world is demanding for sustainable development.
Thank you so much for being here, in this announcement.
Thank you for being at this press conference.
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Authors: Val
