Mexico has 30-40GW in renewable projects awaiting permits

Mexico’s grid control center Cenace, responsible for reviewing the feasibility of all new projects seeking to connect to the national network, has approved 30-40GW of new renewable energy projects that are unable to begin construction as they lack the required permits. 

“There is about 30-40,000MW in a series of projects that is to be incorporated,” Cenace head Ricardo Mota Palomino (pictured) told reporters on Thursday on the sidelines of the Mexico WindPower event in Mexico City. 

Following the approval of feasibility studies by Cenace, all energy projects in Mexico must obtain a permit from energy regulator CRE, which has been processing these licenses very slowly since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's administration took over in late 2018, resulting in more than 7,000 requests now queued and awaiting a decision. 

One of the few permits approved by the CRE for renewable projects this year was awarded to Audi México in late June to begin construction of a 4,200kW solar plant in Puebla state. In terms of wind power, nothing has been given the green light so far this year. 

At the end of April, CRE registered only 12 wind and solar projects under construction, with most of them having received their permits back in September 2022. 

“The CRE will surely be releasing the permits soon and that will force us to take them into account,” Mota said, saying the long queue is “a normal process.”

"All of them have taken steps before the CRE and we only have to review the nature of the conditions provided by the carrier, which is [state-owned utility] CFE,” he added.