Abstract
Abstract This article studies the expansion of large-scale wind energy projects on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (Mexico) and local socio-environmental conflicts that have emerged in response. It explores how the neoliberal agenda in Mexico is shaping a specific way of implementing wind energy projects, and how this is leading to local resistance and the production of alternatives. The article is based on a historical analysis reconstructing the main features of wind power development, and pathways of struggle. By following a political ecology perspective, wind energy is seen as embedded in a wider frame of power relations and the uneven patterns of the Mexican economy. The struggles of indigenous groups are thus analyzed as the expression of peripheral communities against the enclosure of communal lands, the private appropriation of benefits, and the lack of democratic procedures involved in these projects. The discussion emphasizes the role of communal identities and institutions in building successful networks, while introducing new concepts (energy sovereignty) and alternative schemes in wind power production (cooperatives). The overall approach of the article is that any move towards a different energy system should be politically encouraged by social and cultural means, rather than be largely economically motivated. Keywords: wind energy, neoliberalism, socio-environmental conflicts, energy sovereignty, cooperatives, Tehuantepec
Highlights
In the southeast region of the country, a conflictive process has emerged against the Wind Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, one of the most ambitious renewable energy investments currently deployed in the Global South
The expansion of wind energy in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec has been embedded in a neoliberal agenda that has been shaping the Mexican economy since the 1980s
By analyzing the expansion of wind energy projects and the emergence of conflicts at the local scale, this research aimed to understand the role of neoliberal processes in driving contemporary struggles over energy transition strategies
Summary
Stimulated by growing concerns over climate change, largescale facilities are increasingly being organized throughout the rural corners of the world. At the global and national scales, this trend is celebrated as a clear step to promote green growth and sustainable development goals (OECD/IEA 2011; REN21 2016). As in other countries of around the globe, Mexico is witnessing a growing expansion of wind-farms and the emergence of local opposition against them. In the southeast region of the country, a conflictive process has emerged against the Wind Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, one of the most ambitious renewable energy investments currently deployed in the Global South. Government and international agencies have supported the Corridor as a milestone to promote the Mexican Climate Change Policy, which foresees reaching a renewable electricity production target of at least 40 percent by the year 2033 (ENCC 2013). After more than ten years of local struggle, the Wind Corridor is still a space of contestation between state policies and private interests on one side, and local-indigenous vindications on the other
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