Wind power

While the US debates contraception (really?  I mean, really?)  Mexico is going full bore on wind power.

And Oaxaca's Isthmus of Tehuantepec is one of the world's windiest places with huge wind turbine projects going.

from LAHT (full story)

Mexico’s wind power sector is playing an expanding role in the global development of that renewable energy source, having just achieved the milestone of 1,000 megawatts of installed generating capacity... that figure is significant because it represents 2 percent of the country’s total power generating capacity.

Rodriguez noted that as recently as the close of 2011 Mexico’s total wind power generating capacity stood at just 519 MW but that it has climbed rapidly due to the installation of new turbines in recent months and now is sufficient to provide electricity to a city of some 2 million inhabitants.

“And we can say with complete certainty that by 2014 at least 2,500 MW will be installed at projects already under construction or in very advanced stages,”
According the engineer, investors in wind energy incur low expenses after their initial investment and can be certain how much a project will cost 20 years in advance.

“This long-term certainty is a big advantage” and, combined with the country’s favorable wind conditions, “makes wind energy competitive versus practically any other conventional (energy) source,” the expert said.

The other big advantage “of course is that it’s a source that doesn’t emit contaminants; from the perspective of the country’s goal of mitigating greenhouse gases to combat climate change, it’s an ideal source,” Rodriguez said.

 All of this has taken place in just three years!