People are rushing south of the border and it’s not because they’re fleeing the law. They’re actually investors who are trying to cash in on Mexico’s renewable energy sector opportunities. In the period from 2003 to 2013, the country received US$11 billion in foreign direct investment in renewables, buoyed by wind power projects.
Investors from Spain, Germany and the US lifted the country’s wind power capacity to 1,917 MW and its solar power capacity to 76 MW by 2013. That’s not all, there is another 962 MW of photovoltaic (PV) capacity in the pipeline, according to the 2014 IDF Intelligence report.
This has made it possible for the country to derive 14.9 percent of its total energy requirement from renewable energy sources. The government hopes that this will soar to 35 percent by 2024. It currently hosts 26 wind farms and hopes that wind power capacity will grow to 15,000MW so that the country could meet its renewable energy target.
ProMéxico, the country’s trade and investment agency, recently announced that there were 80 renewable energy projects worth US$8.5 billion that will be started in the next two years. Most of these projects were in wind at 80 percent and with 15 percent in solar projects, while the remaining 5 percent were either in hydroelectric or biomass.
Mexico has the highest solar power potential in Latin America and was the eighth biggest renewable energy investment recipient according to the Climatescope 2014 report.
If you want in on the action, maybe it’s time to pack up your bags and head on south.
