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Electricity Generation In Mexico
The goals of development in rural and urban areas were not equaled by private companies with less than 38% of the electricity coverage; therefore, in August 1937 the Comisión Federal de Electricidad was created with the main goal of constructing the necessary infrastructure for providing electricity to the whole population. The generation capacity reached by CFE could not be matched by private companies. Towards 1960 there was an installed capacity of 2,308 Megawatts, from which CFE generated 54%. The rest was in the hands of companies like Mexican Light, which produced 25% and the American and Foreign Company, which supplied 12% and smaller companies the remaining 9%.
In more than 20 years, its capacity had only been increased by 10%, for which the Mexican Government, lead by President Adolfo López Mateos, took the decision of nationalizing the industry on the 27th of September, 1960. With the State’s sustained investment, the creation of infrastructure throughout the nation was secured, the facilities that had belonged to foreign capital companies were bought, and the service’s coverage increased quickly.
Currently, the installed capacity reported by CFE is 49,861 Megawatts, divided by different sources, thermoelectric plants produce 44.82%, while 22.98% belongs to Productores Independientes de Energía, hydroelectric plants contribute 22.15%, carboelectric plants produce 5.21% and to a lesser extent the geothermic plants supply 2.74% of the national production, and 0.17% is provided by eoelectric plants.
Throughout Mexico there are 177 generation centrals, producing 49,861 Megawatts, with a transmission network of 48,527 Km. During the last years there have been uncertainties on energy supply, if it is able to cover the country’s urban and industrial growth. In this case, El Cajón is the most important hydroelectric project of the last years, with an investment of over 800 million dollars; its installed capacity is 750 MW. It is a construction of great proportion, its curtain raises to 395 meters, with an area at the hydrologic basin of 54,198 square kilometers. It is one of the country’s most important engineering works of the last years and has served as preamble to the projection of an even greater enterprise, the La Yesca Hydroelectric plant in Nayarit, with a cost of nearly 8 billion dollars, which will generate 750 MW.
In the Program of Works and Investments in the Electric Industry, future capacity has been considered a main goal, around 2014 it is estimated to have a total generation of 22,126 MW and 28,527 kilometers of transmission lines.
On the other hand, the challenge is sustainable long-term energy generation slowly decreasing the use of fossil fuels as oil and gasoline, the Federal Government is promoting the use of alternative energy. The Instituto de Investigaciones Electricas and the Comisión Federal de Electricidad promoted the first eolic park at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in La Venta, Oaxaca, which has 98 eolic generators producing 83 megawatts, on 700 hectares.
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Artículo Producido por el Equipo Editorial Explorando México.
Copyright Explorando México, todos los Derechos Reservados.
Foto: cfe.gob.mx
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