Spotlight: The wind farms currently under construction in Mexico

Even though a cloud of uncertainty surrounds large-scale renewable projects under construction in Mexico, various wind farms are still expected to come online over the next two years.

The roll-out of new wind projects was less affected than development of solar projects last year. While energy ministry Sener's 2021 figures showed a significant drop in new solar capacity additions last year compared with 2020, wind additions edged up slightly in the same period.

However, there are still plenty of generators facing permitting hurdles across the different stages of development, as the BNamericas database shows, and a higher proportion of wind projects has been affected. 

Some 13 wind projects tracked in the database have been cancelled or suspended over the past two years, or 27% of the total. In solar, that number climbs to a staggering 31 projects over the same period, although that is a lower proportion of the total at 19%.

Some 35 wind projects remain are at different stages of early works and construction, while the tally of active solar projects is 130. Many of them have indicated that they lack a key permit, but continue development in the hope that a change of administration in 2024 will lead to an overhaul of permitting conditions.

TRANSMISSION

Some regions of Mexico are also constrained by transmission hurdles. 

Energy minister Rocío Nahle said the country needed to overhaul the transmission capacity of Tamaulipas state, given that its generation capacity had ballooned on the back of its significant wind power footprint.

The state now has 1,725MW of wind capacity and generates 10.8% of Mexico's total power demand, which the current authorities argue is a consequence of inadequate long-term grid planning and the indiscriminate granting of generation permits during the previous administration.

According to Nahle, the government and public power utility CFE plan a 609km expansion of the state's grid, which will require an investment of 9bn pesos (US$450mn), although the company has yet to determine where the extra funds will come from, the minister said.

The following is a list of the wind projects currently labeled as under construction in Mexico.

Desarrollo Pich

This US$500mn, 400MW wind farm in Campeche state has been in construction since September 2018. Even though energy regulator CRE expected it to come online in March this year, there has been no news regarding the start of operations.

Vientos de Coahuila

The US$250mn Vientos de Coahuila project in Coahuila state was reported as being in an advanced stage of construction in the first quarter of the year, with no estimated completion date having been made public.

Mesa de Morenos

The US$86mn Mesa de Morenos wind farm in Zacatecas state was confirmed as being under construction late in 2021. No estimated completion date for the 84MW project has yet been announced.

San Pedro

The US$60mn San Pedro wind farm in Querétaro state was reportedly 99% complete at the end of 2021. There is currently no news regarding the start of operations.