Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Energy Research & Social Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/erss Justice, social exclusion and indigenous opposition: A case study of wind energy development on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico Ezequiel Zárate-Toledo a , Rodrigo Patiño b, ⁎ , Julia Fraga a a Departamento de Ecología Humana, Cinvestav - Unidad Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico b Departamento de Física Aplicada, Cinvestav - Unidad Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Wind farm Land use planning Social governance Indigenous communities Energopower ABSTRACT The southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec is one of the windiest places on Earth and the scene of a large-scale wind energy development plan conceived by the Mexican government in conjunction with multinational companies. We analyze the national wind energy development policy, and the negotiation processes, alliances and popular local indigenous resistance created by what is known as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Wind Energy Megaproject. We observe how the Mexican government, in its eagerness to grant control of regional wind energy resources to private sector companies, generated social schisms and conflicts in regional indigenous communities. These arose largely due to the absence of land use planning rules and conflict resolution mechanisms of the property rights issued for communal and social control, heritage of the Mexican revolution in the 1910’s. We describe recent government initiatives implemented in response to this dynamic and aimed at reviving construction of a wind farm previously blocked by popular indigenous protests. This unsuccessful attempt exposed a lack of in- stitutional interest in guaranteeing local involvement in project planning and in correcting existing top-down political and operation practices. Wind energy development in Mexico resembles an extractive model, with no consideration of local cultures or organizations, or the potential for joint ventures with local stakeholders that would treat rural indigenous populations as assets in the national energy transition, begun in 2007 for wind private projects in the region. 1. Introduction According to the Mexican Wind Energy Association (Asociación Mexicana de Energía Eólica - AMDEE), 46 wind farms currently operate in Mexico with 4005 MW installed capacity, and growth in the sector could bring this capacity up to 14,000 MW by 2022 [1,2]. To support this growth, the Mexican government has proposed an energy transition that would result in 35% of national electricity generation from clean sources by 2026, with about 40% of that capacity from wind [3]. Wind energy generation capacity has been growing steadily since 2008 (Fig. 1)[1,4], with 82% of current capacity installed in the southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec region (Fig. 2)[5]. This is one of the windiest regions on the planet, where average annual wind speed exceeds 10 m/ s. Indeed, the United States National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates the area’s wind energy generation potential at over 44,000 MW [6]. Once a regulatory framework was in place to facilitate public/pri- vate alliances for wind energy projects development, twelve wind farms were built in the area from 2008 to 2012. These formed part of a large- scale renewable energies project designed by the federal government and operated by large multinational companies. This rapid develop- ment led to an abrupt change in the region’s landscape and modifica- tions in the organizational structures of the local indigenous commu- nities. Our intention is to analyze the beginning of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Wind Megaproject (Mega Proyecto Eólico del Istmo de Tehuantepec; “Megaproject” hereafter), highlighting the main opera- tional instruments and the political processes generated in the impacted communities. Using this case study, we hope to better understand the https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2019.03.004 Received 29 May 2018; Received in revised form 27 February 2019; Accepted 6 March 2019 ABBREVIATIONS: AMDEE, Asociación Mexicana de la Energía Eólica (Mexican Wind Energy Association); CFE, Comisión Federal de Electricidad (Federal Electricity Commission); CRE, Comisión Reguladora de Energía (Energy Regulatory Commission); IACHR, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; OS, Temporada Abierta de Reserva de Capacidad de Transmisión y Transformación de Energía Eléctrica (Open Season for Electric Energy Transmission and Transformation Reserve Capacity); PA, Procuraduría Agraria (Agrarian Ombudsman); PIE, Productores Independientes de Energía (Independent Energy Producers); SEMARNAT, Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources); SENER, Secretaría de Energía (Ministry of Energy); SIA, Social Impact Assessment ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: rodrigo.patino@cinvestav.mx (R. Patiño). Energy Research & Social Science 54 (2019) 1–11 2214-6296/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T