You might think the people of Texas are thrilled to hear the
current president threaten to shut down the US government on December 7th if
Congress doesn’t give him $5 billion to build a wall along the border with
Mexico, where everyone is a dangerous criminal, a rapist, or a murderer. Since
Texas has a border with Mexico that stretches 1,254 miles and has 28
international bridges and other crossings, surely it favors such a wall,
doesn’t it?
Not necessarily. It turns out many people in Texas see the
people on the other side of the border as neighbors, not mortal enemies intent
on slaughtering them in their sleep. According to an op-ed in the Dallas
Morning News written by Carlos Torres-Verdin, now is the perfect time
to leverage some of the experience Texas has acquired in renewable energy —
especially wind
power — by sharing it with Mexico. There’s money to be made, and
Mexico has recently elected a new president and a new mayor of Mexico City who
are strong renewable energy advocates. Torres-Verdin is a professor of
petroleum and geosystems engineering in the Cockrell School of Engineering at
The University of Texas at Austin.
Mexico has established a renewable energy goal of 35%
nationally within 5 years and 50% by 2050. It established a Market for Clean
Energy Certificates program that became fully operational this year. According
to Torres-Verdin, private companies bid for market share. Whichever offers the
most competitive rate is awarded a Clean Energy Certificate to build its
system. US companies are welcome to participate.
There’s a lot of work to do to reach the 35% renewable
energy goal. In order to get there, Mexico will need to build more wind farm
resources in the next 3 to 5 years than Canada did in 20 years. If American
companies want to do business in Mexico, they will need to be prepared to hire
and train local workers and technicians. Texas also has significant experience
with solar energy, technology it could also export to its southern neighbor.
“Entering the Mexican green energy market is not without
challenges. Nothing worth doing is ever easy,” writes Torres-Verdin. “However,
the conditions have never been more favorable for greater energy-related
cooperation, and managed carefully, it could be a win-win situation for both
sides — something the U.S. and Mexico desperately need right now.”
The business opportunities are there for the taking. What is
lacking is an atmosphere of trust between the parties. Establishing that may be
harder than building wind farms and solar power plants, especially with the
tweeter in chief hurling insults at the people of Mexico at every opportunity.
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