Mexico Bill Puts $22 Billion in Clean Energy Contracts at Risk
- Clean-energy installations totaling 15,000 megawatts in peril
- Private companies represent the majority of green developments
Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s proposed electricity reform could derail more than $22 billion of solar, wind and other renewable-energy installations owned by major foreign companies such as Iberdrola SA and Sempra Energy.
The bill proposed to lawmakers last month would cancel some electricity-generation permits granted to foreign operators and give priority to the aging hydro, nuclear and natural gas-fired plants run by state-owned power utility Comision Federal de Electricidad, or CFE. Wind and solar projects would be pushed toward the bottom of the list, beating out only gas- and coal-fired generation from non-state providers. The bill seeks a constitutional guarantee that CFE holds 54% of the market compared with 38% currently.