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The National Electric System Development Program (PRODESEN) estimates that an invest- ment of US$123.4 billion will be required in the electricity infrastructure over the next 15 years in order to fulfill the Mexican government’s goals. Energy generation infrastructure will ac- count for about 75 percent of this number.
Mexico—in addition to importing U.S. gas and ship the surplus even further south, into Central America. Some posit that that is the game plan. “Mexico’s long-term goal is to become the energy hub of both North and Latin America,” declares Guillermo I. García Alcocer, Chairman of Mexico’s Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), the agency responsi- ble in Mexico for regulating natural gas and electricity transmission. Mexico cer-
tainly has the geography and resources to be a hub and in 2015 allocated US$3.2 billion to upgrade facilities at Gulf Coast ports specifically to meet energy de- mands.
ELECTRIFYING MEXICO
Despite the high power bills, electricity production in Mexico has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Yet “per capita consumption is relatively low,”
posits the IEA. As Mexico develops, elec- trical demand will also rise, particularly from commercial buildings. Under 2013 reforms, private operators can sell power to the CRE.
Gas-fired production of electricity is rapidly replacing oil, and as a result, Mexico’s powerplants are often world- class. “Power-plant technology is state- of-the-art, but I think we will eventually see more distributed generation, like
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