Mexico's Robust Wind Energy Prospects Ruffle Nearby Villages

A Steady Wind

Photograph by Dominic Bracco II, Prime

Winds can be so unrelenting across the isthmus that indigenous residents view them as sacred, a living force that's been embraced and worshipped alongside other natural phenomena. An accident of geography, meteorology, and geology steadily pulls air from the cooler Atlantic across the 137-mile-wide (220-kilometer) isthmus to replace air rising above the warmer Pacific. In the winter months, the winds blow almost nonstop from the north across the isthmus, funneling through a break in mountains that otherwise march the length of Mexico.

Scientists have long known the potential of the region to produce wind energy. But Mexico historically has relied on another seemingly abundant resource for energy: oil. With state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) riding the success of the supergiant Cantarell field, offshore in the Bay of Campeche, Mexico has been one of the world's top ten oil producers. Nearly 60 percent of Mexico's total energy demand is satisfied by oil, while its northern neighbor, the United States, relies on oil to meet 36 percent of its energy needs. (See related quiz: "What You Don't Know About Wind Energy.")

But Cantarell's production has declined far more rapidly than anticipated over the past decade; it's now producing 80 percent less oil than at its peak in 2004. So the Mexican government began to encourage alternate sources of energy, most notably from its strong winds. Other than hydroelectric plants, which provide about 5 percent of Mexico's energy, renewable energy provided only 2 percent of Mexico's energy as recently as 2010. The wind projects are part of an ambitious goal to produce a third of Mexico's energy needs through renewable sources within 15 years.

Published February 7, 2013

The Flow of Power

Photograph by Robert Frerck, Getty Images

People amble through Alameda Park in Oaxaca, Mexico, softly illuminated during an annual festival that marks its agrarian roots, the Fiesta de los Rabanos, or radishes. Opponents of some of the large wind projects being built in Mexico say that the new power isn't being built to meet the modest needs of such communities, but for industrial concerns and the broader national grid. Mexico also exports a small amount of electricity to the United States and other countries; one wind project just south of the border with California, for example, will feed electricity to San Diego. 

Capturing wind power fits in with the image of a leadership on green energy that Mexico sought to convey to the world when it hosted international climate change talks in Cancun in 2010. Calderón sought to bridge the gap between developed and developing nations: "We're all in the same vessel," he told the delegates. "Whether the guilt lies with those in the tourist class or those sitting up front in first class . . .  the plane continues to go down." Since leaving office, Calderón has continued to call for greater investment in renewable energy. He authored the first report of the World Economic Forum's new Green Growth Action Alliance, which last month called for $5 trillion in global investment in cleaner energy, water, transport, and agriculture.

Meanwhile, Calderón's successor, President Enrique Peña Nieto, also has been supportive of renewable energy expansion, but he campaigned in part on a platform to revive Mexico's fossil-fuel production, including steps to attract investment and pursue the same kind of success its northern neighbor has seen in producing natural gas from shale.

Published February 7, 2013

Small Villages, Large Projects

Photograph by Dominic Bracco II, Prime

The isthmus winds are strongest on the south side, where fishermen such as this resident of San Mateo del Mar still depend on the riches of the Pacific Ocean. San Mateo is one of a number of villages surrounding seafood-rich lagoons, villages that maintain the colorful traditions of the Huave Indians, who have lived in the area since long before the Spanish arrived.

San Mateo is pitted against a neighboring village, Santa Maria del Mar (map), which agreed to the construction of a 30-turbine wind farm on a peninsula the communities share adjacent to a large lagoon called Laguna Superior. The strife stems from villagers torn between the potential disruption of their fishing and traditional lifestyle, and the promise of lease payments and other benefits from the projects.

The wind turbines outside Santa Maria and another set of them across the lagoon are the two parts of what would be the largest wind-energy farm in Mexico, Mareña Renovables. More than 130 turbines, each standing about 260 feet high (80 meters), would have a combined capacity of about 396 megawatts.

The companies behind the project have taken advantage of poorly educated village leaders and residents, many who still speak their traditional languages and no Spanish, said Rodrigo Peñaloza, an activist who has campaigned against the project. Many villagers, Peñaloza said in an email exchange, "do not know how to read and do not write. And even if they know how to read, it's not well enough to understand the meaning of many of the clauses."

Published February 7, 2013

Plenty of Fish, and Unharnessed Energy

Photograph by Dominic Bracco II, Prime

Fishermen prepare to cast their nets on a lagoon near San Dionisio del Mar, the village across the lagoon from Santa Maria that agreed to host the other part of the Mareña Renovables project. More than half of San Dionisio's 5,000 residents speak a non-Spanish native language, according to one survey.

Still, 100 percent of villagers gathered in a town meeting reportedly approved their part of the project, which would string 102 turbines along a thin and windswept cape that divides two lagoons, the Laguna Superior and Laguna Inferior.

But some Huave fishermen have risen up against the turbines because of fears that vibrations would disturb lagoon shallows and swamps along the shores that are crucial to breeding shrimp, the villages' largest cash crop. Others complain that payments meant for the community have lined the pockets of a few leaders who persuaded fellow townspeople to vote for the projects. Spokesmen for the companies behind the development didn't respond to requests for comment. They have said previously that they worked responsibly with the town assembly, but can't control the distribution of funds. (See related stories: "Bubble Curtains: Can They Dampen Offshore Energy Sound for Whales?" and "Chilean Wind Farm Faces Turbulence Over Whales")

Published February 7, 2013

Seeking an Economic Headwind

Photograph by Dominic Bracco II, Prime

Members of the Oficina de Bienes Comunales, or "communal property office," in Santa Maria are among the leaders of Huave Indians around Laguna Superior, a large and shallow body of water on the southern side of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. They say they signed agreements to allow a large wind project because other opportunities remain scarce in the region.

Much of the land around the lagoon is communally owned in loosely governed "ejidos," farms or ranches under collective control that have proven unreliable partners for the multinational companies aiming to develop Oaxaca's wind energy. "The administration and ownership records of the Ejido lands are often incomplete and convoluted. Poor record keeping by the states, corruption, and unsettled disputes often cloud ownership," said a 2009 USAID case study of wind projects in Oaxaca.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)  and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) are among the government-sponsored agencies that have provided loans and logistical help to harness the area's winds. A 2004 study done by USAID and the U.S. Department of Energy helped spur wind projects by quantifying their potential on the isthmus, which it estimated at 33,000 megawatts. That's four-and-a-half times the capacity of the largest U.S. power plant, the Grand Coulee dam.

Published February 7, 2013

A Changing Landscape

Photograph by Dominic Bracco II, Prime

Wind turbines now fill the horizon around land farmed by Zapotec Indians, another large indigenous group on the isthmus, two of whom are seen here repairing a fence near the village of La Venta. Local groups complain that they were not warned of the size of the equipment, which can be taller than a 25-story building.

They also complain that developers did not warn them of related environmental damage, including gravel roads built to enable wind-farm installation and maintenance. Some of the roads have made land untillable and cut irrigation canals that were crucial to farm production.

Outside investors, including large international lenders, say they have worked with local groups to mitigate the environmental impact of such projects. The Mexican representative of the IDB, for one, told Dow Jones in an emailed comment that "all operations financed by the bank are subject to the highest environmental and social safeguards." Developers on the Mareña project outside Santa Maria, whose funding includes a $72 million loan from the bank, created a "social and environmental action plan to mitigate the project's potential impacts, working together with the IDB," the representative said.

Published February 7, 2013

Benefits Gone With the Wind?

Photograph by Dominic Bracco II, Prime

A restaurant in La Venta sells coffee and trinkets derived from the nearby wind farms, reflecting hope that the developments would bring jobs, cheap energy, and new prosperity to Oaxaca, one of the poorest states in Mexico. But skeptics note that most of the jobs are short-lived construction positions. The Mareña project, for one, would generate about 300 construction jobs but only 30 positions for the life of the wind farm, which is projected to be 30 years.

Some residents also complain that the wind projects have done nothing to lower electricity rates in nearby communities. Much of the power instead travels to the national grid for the benefit of large corporate customers.

Published February 7, 2013

The Lure of Land Leases

Photograph by Dominic Bracco II, Prime

Traditional Huave lifestyles dominate Pueblo Viejo de San Dionisio, the portion of the village of San Dionisio del Mar that is closest to the 102 wind turbines that would be part of Mareña Renovables, slated to become Mexico's largest wind energy producer. From left, Teodulo Gallegos Pablo, a fisherman and village authority, speaks with his daughter and wife before retiring to his hammock, the traditional bed of Isthmean Indians.

"Yes, you can fight poverty and protect the environment at the same time. This is a clear example," Calderón, the former president, said at a ceremony in October that dedicated another group of wind turbines in Oaxaca.

New money is flowing into local communities. But whether the income is enough, and fairly distributed, is a hotly debated matter.

Leases reportedly bring some landowners at another wind farm some 14,000 pesos ($1,000) a year for each 2.5 acres (1 hectare). That's half a year's average income from one hectare. Still, residents complain about a patchwork of payment rates, with early-to-sign farmers—often local leaders—getting considerably more for their land.

Published February 7, 2013

Standing Opposed

Photograph by Dominic Bracco II, Prime

Francisco Valle Piamonte is the mayor of San Mateo, which has harbored long-simmering disputes with nearby Santa Maria over part of their shared peninsula. Now Santa Maria has agreed to let the Mareña Renovables wind farm erect 30 turbines on the disputed land, leading to a confrontation between the villages.

Deciding who controls which land in many parts of Oaxaca has proven difficult, as most property was held in communal confederations with borders that were often loosely defined. Mexico's federal government over the decades has drawn more distinct boundaries, but many remain in dispute, including the line between San Mateo and Santa Maria. The rush to build wind farms has turned those background quarrels into high-stakes battles over property, traditions, and Mexico's energy future.

Published February 7, 2013

Warring Towns

Photograph by Dominic Bracco II, Prime

Now unable to reach their village by road, residents of Santa Maria must haul supplies to boats that carry them to their village. Nearby San Mateo cut off the road to the mainland after Santa Maria agreed to allow wind turbines on their shared peninsula, fanning a long-running property dispute between the two towns into an angry confrontation. Residents in the larger San Mateo had voted to keep the energy companies off nearby land.

Both villages are among the traditional homes of the Huave minority in Oaxaca. But energy projects also have reopened ancient fissures between the Huave and Zapotec, a larger indigenous group that arrived in the area after the Huave but also well before the Spanish.

Published February 7, 2013

A Dawning Conflict of Interests

Photograph by Dominic Bracco II, Prime

Morning arrives in tiny Pueblo Viejo de San Dionisio, an isolated fishing village that would share its cape with a string of 102 large wind turbines. The pueblo is part of the larger town of San Dionisio del Mar, where residents voted unanimously in a town meeting to lease land for the Mareña Renovables project. Some residents have since claimed they didn't understand the scope of the project when they voted for it.

After a judge late last year blocked construction of the turbines, another town meeting was convened that led to a violent confrontation between the project's supporters and opponents led by Rodrigo Peñaloza, a local activist. State and federal leaders had condemned the judge's decision and were trying to stop many residents from participating in the meeting, Peñaloza said via email. "The federal and state governments maintain a policy of discrimination and exclusion towards indigenous peoples."

How long a lone judge in Oaxaca can stall the project remains unclear. Wind power has the backing of federal and state officials, and investors are proceeding with nearby projects. But even ardent fans of renewable energy are given pause by the conflict spurred by Mareña Renovables, whose size and location have made it emblematic of global clashes between tradition and technology, environment and energy, and people and power.

Published February 7, 2013

Next: Pictures: Flying Wind Turbines Reach for High-Altitude Power

Photograph courtesy Makani Power

Published February 7, 2013