Mexico’s clean energy industry won a reprieve from strict new restrictions championed by the Energy Ministry, according to two people familiar with the matter.
A court temporarily exempted 17 companies on Monday from the regulations that many saw as an attack on the industry, said the people who asked not to be named because the decision isn’t yet public. They didn’t identify the companies.
The government has said the measures were designed to give more authority to the state utility and protect the stability of the national grid from the irregular energy flows produced by renewable energy projects. Critics said the moves limit competition for the state utility, Comision Federal de Electricidad. The Energy Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The latest round of suspensions apply to measures put forward by the country’s Energy Ministry, which were fast-tracked over regulator and industry concerns in May. The measures would have allowed the ministry to impose a number of limitations and tests on new solar and wind projects, and would have given the National Center for Energy Control the power to reject new plant study requests.
On May 18, Mexican courts granted similar temporary stays to companies including Italy’s Enel SpA, allowing them to push ahead with projects despite plans by regulators to indefinitely suspend required tests.
Source: Bloomberg L.P.
