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Wind Power News: Mexico
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
The dark side of clean energy in Mexico
A palm hat worn down by time covers the face of Celestino Bortolo Teran, a 60-year-old Indigenous Zapotec man. He walks behind his ox team as they open furrows in the earth. A 17-year-old youth trails behind, sowing white, red and black corn, engaging in a ritual of ancient knowledge shared between local people and the earth. Neither of the two notices the sound of our car as we arrive “because of the wind turbines,” Teran says. Just 50 meters . . . Complete story »
Wind farm project halted after appeal
As Mexico strives to find alternatives to non-renewable power sources, finding a balance between development, new technologies and citizens’ concerns is proving difficult, as recent developments in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec have shown. An US $850-million wind farm project to be developed by Energía Eólica del Sur in the region, while controversial, was approved in August by a community assembly after months of consultation. The project was the first in Oaxaca to undergo a new review process intended to be . . . Complete story »
Mexican wind farm sending power to U.S. comes under fire
GWEN IFILL: As world leaders focus on climate change this week, we look to the sky and a first-of-its-kind partnership to deliver renewable energy across borders. Jean Guerrero of local station KPBS has the story from San Diego. JEAN GUERRERO: Sixty-two-year-old Jose Mercado runs a grocery store near the center of the Jacume, a small rural town just south of the U.S.-Mexican border. He’s part of a commune leasing land to the first cross-border wind energy project, Energia Sierra Juarez. . . . Complete story »
Mexico planning $46 billion coast-to-coast wind-energy push
Mexico is planning to quadruple its wind-power capacity as part of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s effort to transform the country’s energy industry. The country expects to have about 10 gigawatts of turbines in operation within three years spread across almost every region, up from 2.5 gigawatts in 2014, part of a government plan to add 20 gigawatts of clean energy by 2030, according to Mexico’s Wind Energy Association. A total of 22 gigawatts of wind power will be added over . . . Complete story »
First U.S.-Mexico wind energy project sees legal challenge
A historic wind farm in Mexico started sending electricity across the border into San Diego County this summer, but some residents are still fighting it in federal court. Energía Sierra Juárez, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, is the first cross-border wind generation project between the U.S. and Mexico. Clean energy collaboration is on this week’s agenda for industry leaders meeting at San Diego’s Border Energy Forum. But some residents claim its first incarnation violates the National Environmental Policy Act, the . . . Complete story »
Isthmus wind farm wins community nod
A controversial wind farm proposed for the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca has been approved by a community assembly after eight months of consultation. It was the first wind farm project in Oaxaca to undergo a new review process intended to be open and inclusive, and one that follows international regulations requiring consultation with indigenous groups. It also calls for public approval of such projects. Although residents opposed to the project proposed by Energía Eólica del Sur have blocked highways . . . Complete story »
Mexican state says residents of heavily Indian area approve controversial wind power project
Residents of a heavily Indian area have approved the installation of a huge wind power project in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico, the Oaxaca state government said Friday. The proposed construction of 132 giant wind turbines is meant to generate 396 megawatts of power, but the project has raised concerns over vibrations, bird deaths and invasion of Indian lands. The company behind the project and the Oaxaca government teamed up to offer residents an average 45 percent reduction . . . Complete story »
Aceptan instalar parque eólico en Juchitán
Oaxaca – En el municipio de Juchitán de Zaragoza, que se localiza en la región del Istmo de Tehuantepec, una gran asamblea comunitaria decidió por mayoría después de dimes y diretes, la instalación de un parque eólico en esa demarcación. Es la primera vez en la historia que un proceso de consulta abierto determina la instalación de una empresa privada luego de las irregularidades que se registraron en la ubicación de otros parques, que incluso generaron enfrentamientos con comunidades y . . . Complete story »
Native communities in Mexico demand to be consulted on wind farms
“It hurts us that our land is affected, and the environmental impacts are not even measured. Wind farm projects affect streams and hurt the flora,” said Zapotec Indian Isabel Jiménez, who is taking part in the struggle against the installation of a wind park in southern Mexico. The 42-year-old healer says the turbines endanger medicinal plants, which are essential for her traditional healing work in the city of Juchitán in the state of Oaxaca, 720 km south of the capital. . . . Complete story »
Thirsty for clean power, California taps winds in Mexico
EJIDO JACUMÉ, Mexico – In its quest for more renewable energy, California’s power grid is reaching across the U.S.-Mexico border into Baja California to generate electricity from wind turbines along a blustery ridgeline that has tempted prospectors for decades. The area’s first utility-scale array of 47 mega-turbines is clustered on an outcropping of land nearly a mile above sea level owned by Ejido Jacumé, an agrarian land cooperative whose ideological roots can be traced to post-revolutionary Mexico in the mid-20th century. . . . Complete story »
