POWER January 2020 - 12

GLOBAL MONITOR
have more influence over the country's
power projects. Obrador (Figure 4), who
assumed the presidency late in 2018,
in his first year in office has rolled back
moves from the previous administration
of Enrique Peña-Nieto, who oversaw
constitutional reforms in 2013 that ended
state-run monopolies and opened
Mexico's energy markets to competition
and investment from foreign and
private companies.
Obrador's move to reduce privatesector
incentives to develop renewable
energy has led to lawsuits from groups
that support renewable resources. Some
companies have filed what are called " amparo "
lawsuits-in effect, a remedy for
protection of constitutional rights-to overturn
a government decision from October
2019, a move that the groups said alters
a scheme promoting private-sector investment
in renewable power generation.
The October rule change also brought
criticism from the International Monetary
Fund (IMF). The groups supporting
renewable power won an initial battle
in late November, as a Mexican federal
court reversed an earlier decision by a
lower court on the October rule change,
which impacts a program for renewable
energy
credits.
Companies,
including
U.S.-based AES Corp. and Italy's Enel
SpA, had filed for injunctions in courts
across Mexico, pushing back on a decision
by Obrador's Energy Ministry to
grant older, government-run renewable
power projects clean energy certificates
(CELs) that were supposed to spur the
development of new wind and solar
farms. The CELs-adopted during the
previous administration of Peña-Nieto-
are sold at auction to large electricity
users that are required by the Mexican
government to use certain amounts of
renewable energy.
Several other injunctions against the
rule change were pending in court in early
December. Industry groups including
the Mexican Association of Wind Energy
and the Mexican Association of Solar
Energy have said a change to the policy
around CELs would disincentivize investment
in renewable energy projects, and
that could be the goal of the Obrador
administration, according to an industry
insider who spoke with POWER.
" Mr. Obrador took office just over a
year ago, and he immediately put in the
4. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who took
over as Mexico's president late in 2018, immediately
made moves to roll back energy
reforms instituted under the previous administration
of Enrique Peña-Nieto. Among his
actions was to give more influence to stateowned
companies in the country's energy
strategy. Source: Office of the President /
Government of Mexico
freezer a number of steps that were to
be taken on energy reform, " Jose Valera,
co-lead of Mayer Brown's Oil & Gas practice
based in Houston, Texas, told POWER.
" There has been a change in policy
that results in the CFE [Comisión Federal
de Electricidad or Federal Electricity
Commission] playing a much-larger role
than anticipated as part of the reform in
electric generation. The majority of new
MORE TO EXPERIENCE.
MORE TO VALUE.
The IEEE PES T&D Conference and Exposition delivers an unprecedented combination
of technical sessions, networking events and over 800 exhibitors for a world-class T&D
event like no other. Held just every two years, it's an international gathering and global
exchange of ideas for the next generation of energy challenges and solutions with an
in-depth look at the issues, products and new technologies vitally important to all areas
of the power industry.
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN / EARLY BIRD DEADLINE 3/20
POWERFORWARDTD.ORG
12
www.powermag.com
POWER | January 2020
CHICAGO
APRIL 20-23

http://www.POWERFORWARDTD.ORG http://www.powermag.com

POWER January 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER January 2020