CFE chief Enrique Ochoa Reza
More power plants and pipelines are in the works as another 16 electrical infrastructure projects, valued at US $4.9 billion, will soon be open to tender.
Federal Electrical Commission (CFE) chief Enrique Ochoa Reza explained yesterday that the projects include two pipelines, three electrical generation plants, modernization of an existing hydroelectric plant, three transmission lines and five projects to improve distribution of electricity around the country.
The new generation plants will utilize natural gas from the United States, replacing the use of both oil and natural gas imported at a premium cost from Nigeria and other countries.
“The principal objective of the CFE is to reduce generation costs of electrical energy and offer a higher quality transmission and distribution of electricity for all Mexico,” said Ochoa.
Another objective is to reduce the large amount of lost electricity. Half of those losses, which are estimated to be between 15 and 18% of total distribution, occur because of the lack of maintenance and the use of old equipment. The other half is simply stolen.
In the State of Mexico those losses are as high as 26% of the electricity distributed, says the CFE.
Ochoa said the immediate goal is to cut those losses country-wide to 10 or 11%, but in the longer term they need to be reduced to levels that are competitive with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, where the average is 6%.
The president of electrical generation equipment company Alstom Mexico, Cintia Angulo, estimates it will take more than two years to combat the losses, while Rodolfo Pantoja of Schneider Electric, an energy firm, said intelligent energy networks, which employ sensoring and metering devices to manage distribution, would contribute to solving the problem.
The new projects are all a result of energy reform legislation which has just been approved by Congress.
Last month the CFE announced tenders for two power plants, the expansion of a transmission grid and two natural gas pipelines, for a total cost of $2.8 billion.
All the announced projects will be open for bidding by international and private firms.
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