Mexican Standoff: RE Outfits Furious As Mexican Government Blocks All New Wind & Solar

The only things ‘inevitable’ about the ‘transition’ to wind and solar are rocketing power prices and unstable power grids. As to the latter, the Mexican government has taken a stand that’s sent renewable energy rent seekers into a tailspin.

As you read on, bear in mind that Bloomberg is the international propaganda outlet for wind and solar and all things purportedly ‘renewable’. And the hint as to where PV Tech’s loyalties lies right there in the title. But, the solemn message they deliver is abundantly clear: the Mexican government has pulled the plug on intermittent wind and solar.

The Mexican government’s concept, not without merit, is that if you’re looking for a reliable power supply, then it doesn’t make much sense to rely on the ‘unreliables’.

The justification for the standoff is that – as it stares down the coronavirus threat – Mexico needs reliable and affordable power, more than ever.

Mexico Indefinitely Halts New Clean-Energy Plans, Blaming Virus
Bloomberg
Justin Villamil
3 May 2020

Mexico’s Centro Nacional de Control de Energia (Cenace), which oversees the electrical system, indefinitely suspended critical tests for new clean-energy projects as the nation grapples with the spread of the coronavirus.

Preoperative tests of intermittent power plants would be suspended along with other measures to increase the reliability of the national electrical system, Cenace said in a statement released Friday. Tests that haven’t yet started will also be suspended.

The agency said that it will apply the “actions and operational strategies to strengthen the reliability of the electrical supply.”

Critics worry that the new measures, which don’t mention older non-renewable plants operated by Mexico’s state-owned utility Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE), will hurt renewable producers at the expense of their state-run rival. Calls to Cenace outside of normal business were not answered.

“This is not in line with the care that one should take of consumers and markets,” said Eduardo Perez Motta, the former head of Mexico’s antitrust regulator in an interview. “A company with market power — the CFE — is probably trying to take care of and protect itself through these measures.”

Clean-energy producers may have a case to make before regulators as the new guidelines displace competition, Perez Motta said. “It creates enormous uncertainty for these operators, because at any moment they can cut off the possibility of power distribution,” he said.

Tensions between the clean-energy industry and the administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador came to a head in December after an Energy Ministry decision to grant old, government-run plants credits that were designed to spur new development. In the end, a judge granted a full suspension of the rule change.
Bloomberg 

Industry promises legal action as Mexico blocks renewables on ‘stability’ grounds
PV Tech
José Rojo Martín
5 May 2020

The stage is now set for yet another legal dispute between Mexico’s government and the renewables sector, with the former acting to freeze project connections in a supposed bid to underpin system stability in the COVID-19 era.

In recent days, power market operator CENACE moved to block nationwide the tests required to switch on renewable plants. The measure kicked in on 3 May, following Mexico’s transition into a new lockdown phase to contain the recent escalation of virus cases.

The new framework from CENACE – owned by the Mexican state – sets the rules for the functioning of the country’s electricity market during over the new COVID-19 quarantine stage. The document singles renewables out as an obstacle to system stability.

“The intermittent generation from wind and PV plants affects the reliability of the national electricity system, [impacting] the sufficiency, quality and continuity of power supply,” reads CENACE’s document, adding that these technologies “do not contribute” to system regulation or grid inertia.

On Monday this week, Mexican business council the CCE hit out at the changes, describing them as “lacking a solid technical rationale and a fully justified legal foundation”. By acting to block pre-operation tests for solar and wind, CENACE has neglected its duty to system efficiency, the CCE said.

Labelling CENACE’s move as part of a broader roadmap of “regulatory capture” by Mexico’s government, the CCE added: “Like before, the private sector will take the necessary legal measures to preserve the level field and Mexicans’ right to a healthy environment.”
PV Tech

So, Mexico’s wind lobby reckons Mexicans have a “right to a healthy environment”. Fair enough. Don’t we all?

But this is coming from a crowd who’ve ridden roughshod over rural Mexicans across the Tehuantepec isthmus and elsewhere, for the best part of 20 years.

A few years ago, we reported on one example where dozens of Acciona’s turbines had sprung a leak (see pictures above and below), spraying toxic oil across the wind farm site and neighbours, with locals furious at the wind farm operator’s contempt for their complaints: Mexican Meltdown: Tehuantepec Community Erupts Over Wind Turbines Leaking Toxic Oil

Neighbours gave a pretty clear picture on how Mexico’s wind industry was supporting their ‘right to a healthy environment’:

“The stench was terrible, like a sort of burned fuel or ammonia,” said one of them who asked not to be identified by her surname out of concern over reprisals. “The trees were glistening with oil,” she said.

No doubt rural Mexicans are keen for more such efforts by the wind industry to improve their health and well-being.

While the wind and solar industries seem eager to deliver their peculiar brand of a ‘healthy environment’ for Mexicans, their government appears more inclined to ensure the delivery of affordable electricity as and when Mexicans need it. Which sounds like an altogether healthier environment than being sprayed with toxic, oily sludge.