Mexico looks to giant solar park in the desert to assuage carbon concerns

Alchimie SA

02/02/2023 21:49

By Stefanie Eschenbacher
       PUERTO PENASCO, Mexico, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The first
power from a giant solar energy park in the desert of northern
Mexico will enter the country's electricity grid in April,
officials said on Thursday, as the nation aims to burnish its
green credentials with the flagship project.
    President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has hailed the $1.6
billion project - set to be Latin America's largest solar park -
as key to reaching Mexico's goal of producing at least 35% of
all energy consumed from clean and renewable sources by 2024.
    But environmentalists and the opposition have dismissed the
project, known as Plan Sonora after the state where it is
located, as a sideshow distracting from a retrograde nationalist
energy policy that has prioritized state company CFE and its
highly polluting power plants. 
    Lopez Obrador's energy policy has also triggered a formal
trade dispute with the United States and Canada, who allege
Mexico breached their North American trade pact by tightening
state control of its energy market and prejudicing foreign
companies.
    Mexican officials on Thursday, during a tour of the solar
park with a group of over 60 foreign diplomats, sought to dampen
 concerns over Lopez Obrador's commitment to renewables and
energy transition.
    "Sonora is going to be reference point for what
(sustainable) development should look like," Foreign Minister
Marcelo Ebrard said in a presentation after the tour. 
    "We want to invite all the countries of the world to be part
of that," he added. 
    Mexico is looking for partners to help fund the park and the
country's broader transition to greener energy sources. Lopez
Obrador has said that the U.S. could potentially help finance
construction in Sonora. 
    State electricity utility CFE is tasked with developing the
project and expects it to be fully operational by 2027, with
over two million solar panels providing electricity to Sonora
and Baja California.
    So far only a tenth of the panels have been put up. They
stand in the desert sand in perfect regiment. Wires tangle from
the panels, which have not yet been connected to the grid.
    Although scientists rank Mexico as one of the places in the
world with most solar potential, progress on renewables has been
slow under Lopez Obrador.
    The president, a leftist nationalist, has largely focused on
upping fossil fuel exploration and production - as well as
refining - at state oil company Pemex. 
    Climate Action Tracker, an independent scientific project
that tracks government climate action, still rates Mexico's
climate policies as "critically insufficient" in meeting targets
- and predicts that emissions will continue to rise through
2030.
 (Reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher in Puerto Penasco, Mexico
Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Alistair Bell)
 ((Stefanie.Eschenbacher@thomsonreuters.com;))