Resumen

RAMOS-GUTIERREZ, Leonardo de Jesús  y  MONTENEGRO-FRAGOSO, Manuel. Hydroelectric centers in Mexico: past, present and future. Tecnol. cienc. agua [online]. 2012, vol.3, n.2, pp.103-121. ISSN 2007-2422.

Hydroelectric generation began in 1882, in the rudimentary installation of small local plants in England, the United States and France. Several years later in Mexico the first of its facilities were built. Batopilas in Chihuahua was the first in the country, built in 1889. Our country is therefore considered a pioneer in electric energy generation. For 48 years, private foreign companies installed small hydroelectric plants and sold the product in Mexico. In 1937, the government of President Lázaro Cárdenas created the Federal Electric Commission (CFE, Spanish acronym) and with that the State entered into the generation of electric energy. Today, the world needs to rely on sustainable development, using renewable resources to generate electric energy and prevent climate change, and in Mexico, water resources are the most attractive renewable resources given its geography, topography and landforms. It is worth mentioning that since August 14, 1937, when the CFE was created, the country has had 64 hydroelectric plants, 20 of which are significantly large and 44 are small. Fifty-seven hydroelectric plants produce electric energy and 7 are not in operation: El Durazno, Huazuntlán, Ixtapantongo, Santa Bárbara, Las Rosas, Tepazolco and Tingambato. There are a total of 181 generator units of this type. Of the 20 largest plants, 5 are in the Northwest Regional Production District, 2 in the North, 5 in the West, 2 are in the Central Regional Production District and 6 are in the Southeast. Sustainability based on the use of renewal resources should be a guiding principle in Mexico. Countries that have exhausted their hydroelectric potential will attempt to sell their technology and countries such as Mexico will significantly increase the construction of this type of plant because of the great advantages they offer over other energy sources. In the last decades of the 20th century, hydroelectric plants were not built in the country because of the interest in building thermoelectric plants during the middle of that century, which were considered less expensive and thus more economically feasible for public finances. Additionally, natural oilfields found in March 1971, known as Cantarell, led to the government's inclination toward plants that use fossil fuels, freeing up the public finances. Today, this is considered to have been an error, given the environmental problem experienced worldwide.

Palabras llave : sustainable development; hydroelectric centers; history; public finances.

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