Foreign firms battle Mexicans over wind power

Mexico is putting up wind-power turbines at a breakneck pace, and the expansion is pitting energy companies against the Indians who live in one of the windiest spots in the world.
The country is posting one of the world’s highest growth rates in wind energy, and almost all of it is concentrated in the narrow waist of Mexico known as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, where winds from the Pacific meet winds from the Gulf of Mexico, spawning places so wind-blown that one town’s formal name is simply “Windy.”
The largely indigenous residents of the isthmus complain that the wind farms take control of their land, affect fish and livestock with their vibrations, chop up birds and pit residents against each other for the damage or royalty payments. They also claim they see few of the profits from such projects.
President Felipe Calderon has made the inauguration of wind parks one of the main focuses of his administration’s ambitious pledge to cut Mexico’s carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2020, and Tuesday — as he has done before — he stopped by the state of Oaxaca to inaugurate a new clutch of wind turbines, praising the extra income they provide for some farmers.
“Yes, you can fight poverty and protect the environment at the same time. This is a clear example,” Calderon said.
So far in 2012, Mexico has posted a startling 119 percent increase in installed wind-power capacity, more than doubling the 519 megawatts it had last year. Mexico had only 6 megawatts when Calderon took office in 2006.

Distrust from residents

It was mainly Spanish and U.S. firms that built the huge wind towers crowding the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Only four of Mexico’s 17 wind farms are located outside the isthmus.