After the generation of clean energy in the country increased 10.3% between 2017 and 2022, between 2021 and 2022 it fell by 1.8%, due to lower production from wind and photovoltaic sources, according to an analysis by the Mexican Institute for Energy Competitiveness (IMCO).
This setback caused the share of electricity generated through technologies with a low carbon footprint to fall last year to 26.1% of the total, from 27.5% in 2021.
This is the corollary of the cancellation in 2019 of the auctions for the purchase and sale of energy by the government and large private market participants, as can be seen in the data from the IMCO Energy Monitor.
“If the deployment of low-emission energies is not accelerated, the country will become a less competitive one, particularly in a context in which offering clean energy is as important as the reliability of the electrical system or energy prices,” said the minister. institute in its note on the matter.
According to data from the National Center for Energy Control (Cenace), in the last six years the generation of electricity in Mexico grew 10.3%, going from 302.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2017 to 333.8 TWh in 2022. This Growth is almost entirely attributed to the increase in electricity generation through clean technologies. Between 2017 and 2022, clean energy increased 48.4%, going from 58.7 to 87.2 TWh, while energy generated from fossil fuels grew only 1.1%, going from 244.0 to 246.6 TWh.
However, between 2021 and 2022 the generation of clean energy in the country fell 1.8%, going from 88.8 to 87.2 TWh, which is partially attributed to the drop in the generation of wind and photovoltaic solar energy. These had decreases of 3.6% and 4.6%, respectively.
This has also implied a reduction in the participation of this type of energy in the generation matrix of Mexico. In 2022, electricity generated with a low carbon footprint represented 26.1% of the total, 1.4 percentage points lower than the proportion observed in 2021, which was 27.5 percent.
In addition, the figure is practically nine percentage points below the goal established in national legislation and in the Paris Agreement, which stipulates 35% of electricity generation using clean technologies by 2024, observes the IMCO.
Of the six clean energy generation technologies reported by Cenace, which are biomass, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, nuclear and solar photovoltaic, only nuclear and geothermal generated less electricity in 2022 compared to 2017, since they fell 0.3%. and 23.4%, respectively.
The four remaining technologies had growth rates of between 12.3% in the case of hydroelectric, which went from 31.7 to 35.6 TWh, and 54 times in the case of photovoltaic solar, which went from 0.3 to 16.3 TWh.
Hydropower, bad sign
According to the IMCO, the growth of generation from hydroelectric plants is not good news in terms of the energy transition, because although it contributes to meeting the goals of clean energy generation, hydroelectric plants have a negative impact in terms of the availability of water in the country. In addition, the generated energy should be used as a reserve and dispatched at times of high demand.
Specifically, variable clean energies, which are purely renewable: solar photovoltaic and wind, presented the highest growth rates during the period analyzed. Between 2017 and 2022, photovoltaic solar energy grew 4,595%, while wind energy grew 94.3%, going from 10.5 to 20.3 TWh. The increase in these two technologies responds to the development of the Wholesale Electricity Market (MEM) and, fundamentally, to the long-term electricity auctions held between 2015 and 2017.
However, generation through both types of technology was reduced between 2021 and 2022, which calls into question the fulfillment of Mexico’s goals to mitigate climate change. Wind energy decreased 3.6%, since it went from 21.1 to 20.3 TWh, while photovoltaic solar energy fell 4.6% (from 17.1 to 16.3 TWh.
