The Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, presented, on Wednesday, November 6, during her daily press conference, her development plan for the energy sector, which foresees spending 23.4 billion dollars (21.7 billion euros) on energy infrastructure projects. until 2030: $12.3 billion for electricity production and $11.1 billion for transmission and distribution networks.
This plan is accompanied by constitutional reforms, proposed in February by former Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known as “AMLO”, 2018-2024), and which were quickly approved under the presidency of his successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, since she took office. post. in 1Ahem October. For this, it has a majority in Congress (364 deputies out of 500 and 83 senators out of 128). Thus, on October 31, the modification of several articles of the Constitution was voted without a doubt. It puts an end to an energy reform adopted in 2013 under the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto and against which the left had always fought to open the energy sector to private capital.
The national oil company, Pemex, as well as the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) are recovering their character as “public companies” and no longer that of“productive businesses”. “The central objective of the CFE and Pemex is no longer to make profits like a private company, but to offer a quality service, at the lowest possible price”explained the Minister of Energy, Luz Elena González Escobar.
The minister recalled that the CFE now produces 54% of the electricity, “thanks to an unprecedented investment of almost $20 million during the previous administration. This reform today does not put an end to private investment, which still produces 46% of electricity, and new rules for this sector will soon be promulgated.”.
“Reduce electricity production from fossil fuels”
We already know that the private sector will not be able to invest in the exploitation of lithium, which obtains the status of “strategic sector of the State” with this reform. “The government is seeking to reduce electricity production from fossil fuels, while 60% of electricity is still produced from natural gas. He wants the private sector to invest as a priority in renewable energies such as solar and wind. For its part, the CFE should close its coal plants and renew the turbines of the hydroelectric plants.”considers Ramsés Pech, an energy expert at the specialized firm Caraiva.
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