Wind Energy Country Analyses Mexico

Market Potential for Wind Energy

Wind Energy Potential

According to the 2009 Programme for the Use of Renewable Energy, the Mexican zones with potential for wind power generation are: Tehuantepec Isthmus, located in
the state of Oaxaca, La Rumorosa in Baja California as
well as certain areas in the states of Zacatecas, Hidalgo,
Veracruz, Sinaloa and in the de Yucatán Peninsula. Based
on estimations of the Mexican Wind Energy Association
there is a feasible potential to install 10 GW of wind
capacity. However the US National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL) estimated that just in Oaxaca there
is potential for 33 GW that can be installed in an area of
6 637 km2. The potential can differ depending on the selection
of wind locations, the accessibility to transmission
capacity and the type of wind resource considered (wind
resource from good to excellent).
The Oaxaca Wind Resource Atlas, produced in 2003 by
the NREL wind resource group, is the most extensive
mapping study for Mexico. The detailed wind resource
maps (at 30 and 50 m height) and other information contained
in the atlas facilitate the identification of prospective
areas for use of wind energy technologies, both for
utility-scale power generation and off-grid wind energy
applications. According to NREL »The wind-mapping
results for Oaxaca show many areas that are estimated
to have good-to excellent wind resources (wind power
Classes 4 to 7, with 7 being the highest.«15 The atlas
can be accessed both in English and Spanish versions on
NREL’s website on www.nrel.gov/applying_technologies/
maps_atlases_inter_res.html.
In addition to NREL’s atlas, available maps for other re-
15 Wind power class 4 correspond to wind speeds between 6.7 – 7.3 m/s and wind
power density between 400-500 W/m2. Wind power class 7 correspond to
wind speeds bigger than 8.5 m/s and power densities bigger than 800 W/m2
gions of Mexico have been produced by IIE (with measurements
at 10 m height) and by private companies like
TrueWind SL (high resolution wind resource atlas for
Jalisco State), and 3tierGroup. The latter presents on its
website a quick scan map of the wind potential in different
regions of the world including Mexico. These maps
and atlasses can be accessed via the following addresses:
http://genc.iie.org.mx/genc/siger/frames.asp?mcontado
r=15632&val=3&url=mapas1.htm
ht tp ://www.mete o s imt r uewind. com / f i l e s /
file/20080703-ATLAS_EOLICO_JALISCO_MEXICO_
METEOSIM_TRUEWIND.pdf
http://firstlook.3tier.com