Energias Renovables

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 25 (2000) 267±271

A documented analysis of renewable energy related
research and development in Mexico
Ana MarõÂ a RamõÂ rez, P.J. Sebastian*, S.A. Gamboa, M.A. Rivera, O. Cuevas,
J. Campos
CIE-UNAM, Photovoltaic Systems Group, Solar Energy Laboratory, Privada Xochicalco S/N, 62580 Temixco, Morelos, Mexico

Abstract
The research and developmentof renewable energy sources in Mexico has recently started to be considered as a
form of contributing to solve the environmental problems caused by the irrational use of fossil fuels to meet the
human and industrial energy requirements. The major areas of renewable energy research in Mexico are solar
thermal energy, photovoltaic energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, materials for renewableenergy, energy
planning and economy and lately new programs such as hydrogen energy, fuel cells, etc. In Mexico, there are many
important institutions such as universities, research centers and industries working on research, development and
analysis of renewable energy sources. The industrial involvement is comparatively less in this kind of research. In
this work we present results from adocumented, statistical and analytical research carried out on the renewable
energy related research and development activities in various important Mexican research and development
institutions. Many factors a€ecting the complete understanding of the research and development of renewable
energy sources are presented in this paper. # 1999 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published byElsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Renewable energy; Photovoltaic; Wind; Photothermal; Geothermal

1. Introduction
The use of renewable energy sources, which do not
endanger the environmental balance, is a way to solve
many of the environmental problems caused principally by the excessive use of fossil fuels [1]. This
change re¯ects in the quality and way of life ofpeople.
Renewable energy sources are free of pollution during
their development and operation for power generation.
Most of these sources are suitable for large-scale

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +52-562-29784; fax: +52562-29742.
E-mail address: sjp@mazatl.cie.unam.mx (P.J. Sebastian).

power generation and utilization. Solar energy, wind
energy, hydrogen energy, geothermal energy,photovoltaic energy, biomass, thermal energy and lately fuel
cells are a few examples.
Mexico is one of the exporters of petroleum and
products derived from it. The excessive dependence on
energy derived from petroleum creates a lot of environmental pollution and problems. This situation warrants
the sensible use of fossil fuels and development of
renewable energy sources. There are developingcountries which have shown good examples of renewable energy development and utilization.
There are some institutions in Mexico, that have
been working over about a decade in the direction of
research and development of renewable energy sources

0360-3199/00/$20.00 # 1999 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 6 0 - 3 1 9 9( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 3 8 - 5

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A.M. RamõÂrez et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 25 (2000) 267±271

Fig. 1. The data indicating the research and development of photovoltaic energy in Mexico.

and their application in remote areas of the country
[2]. In urban regions renewable energy utilization has
mainly concentrated on solar water heating. These institutions were involvedat least in the development of
one or more forms of renewable energy.
The most important factors that limit the growth
and utilization of coupled systems with renewable
energy sources are the not so good economic situation
of the country, absence of good planning and technology transfer and private sector investment. All these
factors are given importance and are re¯ected in the
analysis...