Photo: Deposit Photos

By KELIN DILLON

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) announced on Thursday, June 17,the Mexican government’s foray into green energy through its construction of a solar park in the northern state of Sonora.

Mexico and López Obrador himself have come under scrutiny for prioritizing initiatives that deal heavily with fossil fuels and unclean energy, making the proposed solar park a new direction for the current administration.

The project comes in collaboration with Sonora’s Governor-elect Alfonso Durazo, who was secretary of Public Security and Citizen Protection under AMLO’s administration until his recent election to lead the northern state.

“It is proposed that we build a solar power generation park in Sonora, and upload all that energy to the grid in coordination with the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE),” said AMLO during Thursday’s iteration of his daily morning press conference.

López Obrador said the land would be analyzed for its viability, and that the venture would be potentially assisted in financing by institutions like the Nacional Financiera (Nafin), the Development Bank and the National Bank of Public Works and Services (Banobras).

The announcement comes on the end of experts’ warning that the country could soon experience blackouts, thanks to high demands nationwide on the state-owned CFE.

As summer months bring sweltering heat, so rises the population’s need for electricity, adding extra strain to Mexico’s electric supply and leading to higher potential for blackouts.