Overview of the Electric Power System
Unlike Canada, in 2005 the electricity infrastructure in Mexico was under federal jurisdiction, controlled by two state companies: Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) and Compañía de Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LyFC). Both companies performed similar activities, including generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, but the latter serviced the central region of the country, including Mexico City, the State of Mexico, and some municipalities of Morelos, Tlaxcala and Puebla; whereas the former serviced the remainder of Mexican territory.
In 1992, private investment was allowed in the electricity generation sector; however, it was not until June 2000 that the first independent power producer (IPP) started operations [11]. These independent power producers were not allowed to sell electricity directly to end consumers but rather had to sell their production to CFE or export it. Together, CFE, LyFC and IPPs integrate the public electricity system, while the private sector covers self-supply and small-scale generation (≤30 MW) [12].
In 2005, the public electric power infrastructure comprised 173 power plants (CFE, LyFC, and IPPs), with an installed capacity of 46,534 MW. The total installed capacity was divided as follows: 27.8% corresponded to oil- or gas-fired power plants, 28.5% to combined cycle, 22.6% to hydro plants, 5.6% to coal-fired power plants, 4.5% to dual-fired plants, 2.9% to nuclear technology, 2.1% to geothermal plants, 6% to combustion turbines and internal combustion (see Section 3 for a description of fossil fuel electricity generation technologies) and a very small percentage to aeolic (wind) energy. According to official data from the Secretaría de Energía (Sener) [13, 14], nearly 18% of the installed capacity within the public sector was owned by independent power producers; 13.2% more than in 2002. Most of this increment was due to the construction of 9 power plants by IPPs. The total national installed capacity, which includes both public and private sectors, was 53,858 MW in 2005. In terms of percentage ownership of the installed capacity, CFE and LyFC owned 69.5% and 1.6%, respectively, with IPPs owning 15.3%. Within the private sector, self-supply, cogeneration, and export contributed 7.3%, 2.8% and 2.5%, respectively. This report considers only the public sector because data from most of the privately owned power plants are not reported in detail to the authorities.
In 2005, the gross generation of electricity was 248,079 GW-h [14], to which CFE and LyFC together contributed 69.2%, IPPs 19.1%, and self-supply, cogeneration, export and others, 5.8%, 2.9%, 2.5% and 0.6%, respectively. The public sector's net electricity generation was 208,379 GW-h [14]. However, private sector self-supply and cogeneration concessionaires had increased their share of the overall production by 2005 and owned a significant share of the installed capacity within the national electric system.
In 2005, electricity generation in Mexico was still based on fossil fuels, which contributed approximately 72.4% of total production—with about 43.2% of this generated by the burning of natural gas, 32.7% from burning oil, and the rest from burning coal and other fuels (mainly diesel).