Geothermal part of ambitious renewable goals for Mexico until 2018
Mexico City Cathedral, Mexico (source: flickr/ Francisco Diez, creative commons)
Francisco Rojas
21 May 2014
Mexico's Energy Secretary states that by 2018 at least 1/3 of the energy generated must be from renewables.
In the news-piece, it is stated that Mr. Pedro Joaquin Coldwell, Mexico’s Energy Secretary that by 2018 at least 1/3 of the energy generated must be from renewables. “We are proposing to expand the role of renewable energy to 33 percent of installed capacity by the year 2018,” Coldwell told participants at an energy conference.
The same articles exposes that Mexico has proven resources to generate more than 18,000 gigawatt hours (GW/h) per year from geothermal, hydraulic, wind, solar and bio-energy sources, the energy secretary said in document distributed at the International Renewable Energy Forum.
In order to achieve this, Legislation that goes beyond the planned energy industry reforms and makes it easier to operate in the electricity generation business must be approved by Congress, Coldwell said. Lawmakers are expected to debate the legislation in a few weeks, the energy secretary said.
The Herald also explains that only 24 of the nearly 200 countries in the world use geothermal resources to generate electricity, with Mexico ranking fifth on the list, the energy secretary said. Mexico currently gets 80 percent of its energy from fossil fuels, with 17 percent being generated with renewable sources and 3 percent from nuclear fission.
