| Mexico City, 7/02/2003 – Business leaders from DuPont to Volkswagen were among the dozen multinational companies talking renewable energy in Mexico today.
At a meeting organized by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of North America in Mexico City, government officials met with private sector representatives to identify obstacles and potential solutions to the development of renewable energy.
Supported by the Center for Private-Sector Studies on Sustainable Development (Cespedes) and the National Commission for Energy Savings (Conae), the CEC sought to strengthen regional cooperation on this important issue.
“A sustainable electricity market that yields health and environmental benefits is the common goal of all the participants at this meeting,” said Hernando Guerrero, Director of the Mexico Liaison Office of the CEC.
American and Canadian companies thus shared their experiences with the purchase of renewable electricity, and discussed opportunities for collaboration with some of Mexico’s largest energy consumers.
"Multinational companies are increasingly committing to sustainable development" said John Carberry, Director of Environmental Technology at DuPont. "This is reflected in DuPont's goal to advance renewables by purchasing 10 per cent of our energy needs from renewable resources at a cost competitive with the best fossil fuel derived alternatives by the end of this decade."
Mexico, which is currently considering a restructuring of its electricity sector, has long been identified as a country with abundant renewable energy resources. Its geographic situation and climate conditions make the country an ideal location for many sources of renewable energy, including wind, solar, geothermic and biomass power.
These clean energy sources could complement fossil fuels, which currently account for about 75 per cent of electricity production in Mexico. For instance, wind potential in Mexico is estimated to have an electrical capacity of approximately 10,000 megawatts (MW)—roughly one third of the maximum national power grid load.
However, this potential is mitigated by such factors as legal and institutional frameworks, the intermittent nature of some renewable energy sources, the cost of upgrading power grids and high initial investment costs.
The meeting builds upon the previous work of Conae in organizing stakeholder seminars and workshops, and the CEC’s landmark Environmental Challenges and Opportunities of the Evolving North American Electricity Market (http://www.cec.org/electricity) report in 2002.
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