Mexico. In the last six years, wind infrastructure grew by 300 percent and if this trend continues, it will exceed 10,000 megawatts in 2024, said the Secretary of Energy, Pedro Joaquín Coldwell, at the opening of the seventh edition of the Mexico WindPower Congress that was held on February 28. to March 1 in Mexico City.
The Head of the Ministry of Energy (SENER) said that this year the national goal is to generate at least 35 percent of energy through clean sources and the technology that will contribute the most in the new energy matrix will be wind. He affirmed that the Government of the Republic will continue with the intense work to strengthen the wind sector and accelerate the pace of Mexico's transition towards a cleaner and more environmentally friendly country.
He explained that with the conclusion of the three electricity auctions and with an investment of 8,600 million dollars, about 7,000 megawatts of renewable capacity will be added by 2020, which is equivalent to 10 percent of the entire Mexican electricity system. "There are 17 beneficiary states where 65 new clean energy plants are installed, of which 20 are wind power plants that will deliver energy to the supplier at highly competitive prices," he said.
Pedro Joaquín Coldwell said that these 20 new wind farms with a capacity of more than 2,000 megawatts will be added to the 46 complexes that already operate in Mexican territory and that together add up to more than 6,000 megawatts. It should be noted that, the costs for wind power generation decreased 25 percent between 2010 and 2017, placing this source as one of the most profitable in the market. "To date, producing with wind turbines costs the same as doing it with several of the fossil technologies," he said.
On the other hand, he said that the Energy Reform created a new contracting model for electricity transmission lines, in which companies through public and transparent processes will be able to participate in the financing, development and operation of the works. In this sense, SENER published for the first time in history, a tender to build electricity networks with private capital. It is a high voltage direct current line of one thousand 400 kilometers circuit that will connect the Isolated System of the state of Baja California with the National Interconnected System.
This line will require an investment of around 1,100 million dollars and a transmission capacity of one thousand 500 megawatts. In addition, one month after the publication of the call, there are already 81 companies of 10 nationalities, including Mexican, that have expressed interest in the process, which shows the confidence that the private sector has in the country. The conclusion of this process will be on September 14.
