• CHANGES: A series of at least five regulatory changes in the Mexican electric sector since the López Obrador administration took office in December 2018 are making extremely difficult for renewable companies to find accesible financing, according to industry experts.
• RISK: “When you talk about a long-term project that meets all permits and characteristics to be viable, they can lend you at a rate of 9 or 10%”, says Paul Sánchez, energy analyst at Ombudsman Energía México. “If there is a problem, you can get financing but at a higher interest rate”.
• CHANGES: The López Obrador administration has embarked in changes favoring Mexico’s state-owned utility (CFE) including suspending long-term clean energy auctions, expanding clean energy certificates to hydroelectric plants and suspending tests for new wind and solar power plants.
• CONCERNS: “When private companies come in & invest under those rules, you have to respect the existing rules. You can’t keep changing them”, said Chris Landau, the US Ambassador to Mexico, during a seminar last week organized by the Woodrow Wilson Center.
