Mexico Plans To Ask US $48 Billion For Solar Projects

Mexico is planning to ask U.S. President Joe Biden for $48 billion in financing for solar projects.

According to Foreign Relations Secretary Marcel Ebrard, the Mexican government is planning to ask U.S. President Joe Biden for $48 billion in financing for solar projects. Ebrard said the request for the funding will be presented to Biden at the upcoming meeting of U.S., Canadian and Mexican leaders in Mexico City on Jan. 9-10, the Washington Post reported.

The Mexican government is planning to build solar energy parks in the northern border state of Sonora, along with power transmission lines. They are hoping to receive some of the funding from the North American Development Bank, or NADBank.

The North American Development Bank or NADBank normally funds green development projects. They have never provided financing on anything near the scale of $48 billion that Mexico is requesting.

Mexico also may get some of the funding by issuing debt bonds.

The solar parks are to be run by Mexico’s state-owned utility. The utility has been involved in a trade dispute between Mexico and the United States, Associated Press News reported.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been accused by U.S. and Canada of trying to favor Mexico’s state-owned utility over power plants built by foreign and private investors, something that is forbidden under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade pact.

On Tuesday, Dec. 20, President López Obrador also ended speculation about whether a Chinese company might be able to mine lithium deposits in Sonora. The Chinese firm already had approvals for such a mine when the president declared that lithium was a strategically important mineral that could only be mined by the Mexican government.

Even though López Obrador had promised to respect any existing permits, on Tuesday, Dec. 20, he said none were viable.

“Fortunately, there were no private concessions,” López Obrador said. “They are claiming there was a concession, but it was at the project stage. Now, any lithium mining will involve a state-owned Mexican company.”