Mexican renewable electricity law B.J. Ruiz-Mendoza * , C. Sheinbaum-Pardo Institute of Engineering of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Circuito Exterior s/n, Edificio 12 Bernardo Quintana, Piso 3, Cubı ´culo 319, Ciudad Universitaria, Delegacio ´n Coyoaca ´n, CP 04510, Me ´xico D.F., Mexico article info Article history: Received 28 May 2009 Accepted 22 August 2009 Available online 8 September 2009 Keywords: Renewable energy sources Mexican renewable electricity law Renewable energy policy Mexican electricity sector abstract Two renewable electricity bills have been proposed in Congress since 2005 in Mexico. The first one was rejected by the Senate and the second one was approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate in October 2008. Our objective is to explain the nature of both bills and to analyze each of them bearing in mind the Mexican electricity sector management scheme. In the Mexican electricity sector single-buyer scheme, the state-owned companies (Comisio ´n Federal de Electricidad and Luz y Fuerza del Centro) are responsible of the public services and the private sector generates electricity under six modalities: self-supply, cogeneration, independent production, small production, export, and import, which are not considered a public service. This scheme has caused controversies related to the con- stitutionality of the 1992 Power Public Services Law that allowed this scheme to be implemented. Both bills, the rejected one and the approved one, were formulated and based on that controversial law and their objectives are linked precisely more to the controversial issues than to the promotion of renewable electricity technologies; consequently, the gap among environmental, economic and social issues related with sustainability notion is wider. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The promotion of renewable energy sources has become an important piece in the cluster of solutions proposed in order to face the climate change. Developed countries through their national and international institutions apply two approaches to deal with envi- ronmental problems related with the climate change. The first one seeks domestic solutions; a good example of this approach is found in the European Union. There, the discussions related to objectives, programs, financial supports, among other issues were analyzed widely since 1996 with the Green Paper ‘‘Energy for the future: Renewable sources of energy’’ [1]. Since then, numerous legislative initiatives were passed until a regional commitment was reached in 2001 under ‘‘Directive 2001/77/EC on the Promotion of Electricity Produced from Renewable Energy Sources in the Internal Electricity Market’’ [2]. The second approach seeks solutions of international scope. These solutions are thought in developed countries to be taken to developing countries by means of cooperation programs, mechanisms, and international agreements. This second approach is the starting point for our analysis because the two legislative measures to promote renewable energy sources in Mexican electricity sector assumed the suggestions from international financial institutions such as the World Bank, which is trustee of the Global Environment Fund, as the base to formulate the renewable electricity law. The World Bank, as a bank its objective is to encourage guidelines or policies which favor their main member’s interests. This was evident during the formulating process of both bills, for which there were not consultations with the interested and affected actors. What has been happing since then? On one hand, the affected rural communities have rejected renewable energy projects because those are not liked to a devel- opment model for them; and on the other hand, the current renewable electricity law reveals evident problems of unconstitutionality. To analyze this subject, this article develops three aspects. In the first part the Mexican electricity sector is shown mainly with regards the regulatory elements. The second and third parts present the positive and negative sides of the bill (2005) and the law (2008) respectively. The document ends with conclusions stating the importance of involving communities in democratic processes tending to public awareness on the positive aspects of the current 2008 Law in order to make a more sustainable use of renewable energy sources. 2. Mexican electricity sector The regulatory framework, the institutions, and the manage- ment model define the coordination scheme of the Mexican * Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ52 55 56233600x8866/8051. E-mail address: bjrmco@gmail.com (B.J. Ruiz-Mendoza). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Renewable Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene 0960-1481/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2009.08.014 Renewable Energy 35 (2010) 674–678