EU Contemplates Carbon Tax, 285 Projects Await Approval

The EU is contemplating a carbon tax that could influence how Mexican industry interacts with its important trading partners. CONCAMIN stated that 285 energy projects are pending SENER’s approval, which is important in light of the president’s upcoming economic reactivations strategies. Internationally, solar energy keeps gaining ground and South Africa plans a large energy tender.

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Mexico

EU Contemplates Carbon Tax for Mexico

Border Carbon Adjustments (BCAs) could influence Mexico’s business with the EU, reports Energía a Debate. The BCA mechanism was designed by the EU Commission to help prevent its industry from being negatively impacted by international competition, as well as to prevent its industry from moving abroad to take advantage of flexible legislation in other countries. This would help the union stop ‘carbon leaks’, where companies pollute outside of the EU.

285 Potential Energy Projects Waiting for SENER’s Approval

Following President López Obrador’s announcement to reactivate energy infrastructure investments, the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) organized to suggest projects that are at a more advanced stage and therefore, have higher potential for reactivation. In total, there are 285 projects pending approval from SENER, which represent an investment of over US$100 billion, said the president of CONCAMIN’s Energy Commission, Regulo Salinas, to El Financiero.

Tamaulipas Seeks More Wind Energy

The state of Tamaulipas has plenty of potential for wind energy, reports El Sol de Mexico: up to 21,000MW. The state already generates 1.477GW of wind energy and plans to surpass the state placed first in Mexico’s clean energy generation record, which is Oaxaca with 2.769GW. The plans are provisional so far but will be set into motion once a climate of certainty reestablishes itself in Mexico’s energy market, said Energy Commissioner of Tamaulipas, María Gómez. There are currently four wind farms in the state’s investment portfolio for this year and two wind farms will begin construction in 2021.

International

South Africa Launches 2GW Energy Tender

The nation-wide tender seeks to reinforce the country’s energy supply and focuses on both conventional and renewable resources, reported Renewables Now. In fact, any type of energy generation is free to compete, as long as the project can be finalized by the end of June 2022. South Africa’s government instances are expecting that the tenders will attract around US$2.4 billion in investments.

45 Percent of 2019’s Newly Installed Generation Capacity Came From Solar

Bloomberg NEF estimated that with an 18GW of commissioned capacity, solar has beaten other forms of energy generation as the biggest installed energy source in terms of capacity for 2019. The uptake received a massive boost from sharply dropping costs of solar equipment. This made adoption a sensible option for utility scale projects as well as on homes, businesses and industry manufacturing plants.

Key Offshore Wind Player Ørsted Ventures Into Solar

Ørsted is a company that is almost a synonym to offshore wind, reported GreenTech Media. Yet the company is planning for quite a shift: its 2021 energy projects will be onshore solar projects. The company focuses on two project developments in Texas and Alabama, which together comprise of almost 700MW of capacity.