MEXICO CITY, April 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mexico announced Tuesday an agreement to buy 13 electricity generation plants from Spain’s Iberdrola for around $6 billion — its latest move to boost the state’s role in the energy sector.
The plants “will form part of the public patrimony and will be operated by (state-owned electricity provider) CFE,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador tweeted, describing the deal as “a new nationalization.”
The move will increase the proportion of Mexican electricity generated by CFE to 55 percent, from 39 percent previously, the government said.
Lopez Obrador has been critical of Spanish energy firms such as Iberdrola and Repsol that have investments in Mexico’s energy industry, accusing them of shady business dealings in the past.
Foreign investors have reacted with alarm to Lopez Obrador’s reforms aimed at rolling back the effects of liberalization under previous governments that he says benefited private companies.
The moves have prompted a formal trade complaint by the United States and Canada under a North American trade deal.
Critics say the reforms unfairly favor state-run firms dependent on fossil fuels over private electricity producers that have invested in renewable energy.
Despite the sale, Iberdrola said that it remained “firmly committed” to renewable energy development in Mexico.
The group “considers Mexico a strategic country with potential for growth and expansion, where it will show its support for Mexico and the state by developing renewable capacity,” chairman Ignacio Galan said in a statement.
Lopez Obrador thanked Iberdrola “for its willingness to reach an agreement,” adding: “We have had some differences, but dialogue and goodwill can do anything.”
Relations between Mexico and former colonial ruler Spain have been strained since Lopez Obrador took office in 2018 and called for an apology for the events of the conquest five centuries ago. — NNN-AGENCIES
