Mexico’s energy watchdog to release new energy storage guidelines 'soon'

Mexico’s energy regulator CRE will soon release new guidelines for energy storage, amidst the saturation of the country’s transmission network and private sector interest in deploying the technology. 

The guidelines were drawn up after roundtable talks with the public, private and social sectors, and they will be centered on power plants rather than systems, CRE commissioner Walter Julián Ángel Jiménez said during the Future Energy Summit 2024 in Mexico City. 

“We want the operator to be able to tell us where it's necessary to have this infrastructure to mitigate network congestion and reliability problems. We know that storage systems aren't cheap, but we're trying to make the compensation systems attractive and develop investment,” he added.

Ángel later said in a social media post that "after several working groups with interested parties, we can say that the regulation is inclusive and its development was participatory. We'll release it soon."

CRE has been readying guidelines for new trends such as electromobility and vehicle charging stations, but it seems that the regulator is awaiting the change in government after the June 2 general election to begin implementing the new rules. 

During the six-year term of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the goal for the regulator, which has hundreds of generation permits awaiting review, was to organize the country’s electricity network, Ángel said. 

“One of the first instances was to bring order to the electrical system, which generated certain resistance way among those who benefited, in the way permits were being issued, because all the growth in the general energy system as a whole requires planning and long- and medium-term horizons,” he added.