Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate ChangeMichael Liebreich, Bryony WorthingtonAll episodes
Mexico Is On The Brink Of A Solar Boom | Ep281: Alberto Estefan
Mexico’s energy future is closely tied to its neighbour to the north. It imports much of its natural gas from the US, but could it soon be exporting clean electricity, or even data, in return? With electricity demand surging, Mexico is preparing for a major expansion of its power system, with 30GW of new generation planned by 2030 and more than $40bn in potential investment.
This week on Cleaning Up, Bryony Worthington speaks to Alberto Estefan, Managing Director of Energy Infrastructure at Actis, about the scale of Mexico’s renewables opportunity. They discuss the country’s growing electricity needs, its dependence on US natural gas, and the investment needed to transform its power system. They also explore the challenges of grid expansion, the role of batteries and whether Mexico could become an energy and data exporter to the US.
Topics covered in this episode:
- Mexico’s renewables boom
- Latin America’s investment opportunity
- The US-Mexico energy relationship
- The economics of solar and batteries
- Mexico’s new investment framework
- Does natural gas still have a role?
- Mexico as a potential data and energy exporter
- The risks of delivering the energy transition
- El Niño and Latin America’s energy security
Leadership Circle:
Cleaning Up is proud to be supported by its Leadership Circle. The members are Actis, Alcazar Energy, Arup, Climate Imperative Foundation, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Cygnum Capital, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP, Eurelectric, KKR, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Schneider Electric, SDCL and Wärtsilä.
Links:
- Alberto Estefan’s bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alberto-estefan-71812b63/
- Actis: https://www.act.is/
- Actis' Lucy Heintz on Cleaning Up: https://youtu.be/nhGDI_0QIHg
- Robert Capuano on Cleaning Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxbUkAY_jCs
- Subscribe to the Cleaning Up Newsletter: https://cleaninguppod.substack.com/
Acronyms:
- CFE: Comisión Federal de Electricidad (Federal Electricity Commission)
- PPA: Power Purchase Agreement
- CAISO: California Independent System Operator
- EPC: Engineering, Procurement, and Construction
Chapters:
- 00:00 Intro
- 02:22 Latin America
- 05:10 Mexico’s Growth
- 18:42 Solar Expansion
- 21:14 Investment Framework
- 27:58 Building Businesses
- 34:19 Gas and Renewables
- 37:25 Grid and Batteries
- 44:35 Data Exports
- 48:22 Delivery Risks
- 54:50 El Niño
- 58:18 Outro
