Subject: meeting with energy secretary martens
i had an hour long , fruitful meeting with energy secretary martens last night . he was very supportive of our import
project for industrials but , i did not convince him on the concept of cfe ' s bids ( i . e . rio bravo iv ) to be modified ,
so as to call for ipp or ppa ' s ( imported power ) indifferently .
he gave me two solid arguments :
- cfe ( i . e . mexico ) cannot depend on imported power from the us ( texas ) on a long term basis ( 25 years ) , since
there is no formal agreement between both countries that will support it . this is an even stronger argument after
the september 11 th events , when the us can call for national emergencies whenever needed .
secretary martens shared with me the problems they faced in baja california during the california energy crisis ,
when natural gas supply was cut out , on three or four occasions , because of a state government emergency
decree ( i . e . supply contracts between sdge and cfe were not honored ) .
- we are very late to request modifications on the rio bravo iv bid , which has been postponed for early december .
he offered to look into it for 2002 bids , providing the bilateral agreement is in place .
regarding the import project for industrials , he volunteered his support with tamsa , axa , desc or deacero , since
the concept of importing / trading power in the ercot market , is a good story for him to sell .
finally , he told me that the transmission cost methodology will be available by the end of this month ( he hopes that the
cre will load it in its internet site ) .
regards , jaime _ _ _ _ _ _ _