Mexico’s CFE updates transmission infra status, gas pipeline usage

Mexico’s federal power utility CFE provided a progress update on its transmission infrastructure and gas pipeline usage.

While the President Andrés Manuel López Obrador administration has been criticized for not tackling the lack of transmission capacity, which is especially severe considering the nearshoring boom, experts also highlighted that the gas network, key to generate power, is fragile.

News outlet Energía a Debate reported that an investor presentation by subsidiary CFECapital said the transmission network reached 110,696km in March, with 2,311 substations in operation. 

A Moody’s report from March said Mexico “is falling behind in its energy-transition plans, having consistently invested insufficiently in transmission,” while the International Chamber of Commerce México (ICC México) warned in November that the country has a deficit of 4,370km of power transmission lines that were not built between 2018 – when López Obrador took office – and 2022. 

Meanwhile, CFE also said in its annual report that gas pipeline network usage jumped from 25% of capacity in 2018 to 42% in 2023. The company expects an increase to 84% in 2025. 

Along with accounting for 48% of power generation, natural gas is widely used in households and serves as fuel for many industrial processes, but 70% of consumption is imported from the US, according to a report from the UN's Economic Commission for Latin America & the Caribbean.

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