The Mexican solar industry reports having a positive outlook for 2016 after the Chamber of Deputies approved the Energy Transition Law (LTE) earlier this month. The law contains goals and mechanisms for incorporation of renewable energies into the electric grid and comprises the final phase of Mexican energy reform. Previously stuck in the Senate for more than a year, the law is now pending ratification.
At the Climate Summit in Paris, President Enrique Peña Nieto committed Mexico to obtaining 35% clean energy in the electricity mix by 2024 and the recently approved version of LTE established intermediary goals toward achieving that objective: a 25% target by 2018, a 30% target by 2021 and the establishment of an annual process for orchestrating the penetration of clean energies.
The law establishes also the details of the program for Clean Energy Certificates (CEL), which will be provided with the establishment of a public registry. Approved regulations give industrialists until 2020 to meet 50% of the obligations required to receive CEL and the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) expects that the total number of registered CEL will not cover less than 70% of the total obligations within the first two years of the program. The law provides support to a Mexican commitment to diversify the future grid. “The main point is to harmonize the clean energy objectives,” states Héctor Olea of Asolmex. He estimates that there are 2 GW of PV projects which can be executed in the short term. These could be accomplished by short-term sales of electricity, bilateral contracts or auctions. The future of another 5 GW of PV that has been approved for construction by CRE is now uncertain.
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