AMLO’s Nationalist Bent Casts 200 Energy Projects Into Limbo
- Mexico permit freeze halts power plants, wind-farm projects
- Iberdrola, AES are among the companies altering their plans
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s hardball tactics against foreign energy companies are halting projects and reversing a process that until recently made the country one of the world’s hottest oil and renewable markets.
About 200 wind farms, natural gas plants, solar arrays and other projects have been stalled, according to government documents, after Lopez Obrador ordered a halt to permitting, exacerbating what was already a lengthy bureaucratic process. Renewable giant Iberdrola SA has postponed new investments in Mexico while AES Corp. put off a deal for a $400 million wind farm because of permitting issues, according to three people familiar with the matter.