The CFE is reborn as the Phoenix Bird (but with less drama and more megawatts)
There was Claudia Sheinbaum, our president with a doctorate in energy (yes, the one who knows more about watts than your drunk uncle at a family gathering), inaugurating the Villa de Reyes Combined Cycle Plant in San Luis Potosí. Because nothing says “energy sovereignty” like a plant that sounds like the name of an indie group, but actually generates electricity for 2,400 homes. Sustainable queen, they would call him on Twitter.
The work, with an investment of 350 million dollars (yes, almost what an apartment in Polanco costs), promises to reduce polluting emissions by 53% and save 40% of water. In other words, it’s like when you change your light bulbs for LEDs, but on a government scale and without your mother scolding you for spending.
The CFE: from neoliberal villain to postmodern heroine
Sheinbaum not only cut the ribbon (or the high-tension cable, who knows), but also dropped pearls such as that the CFE is “the central axis of energy generation in Mexico.” Translation: after years of wanting to privatize it more than a taco stand in Reforma, the Federal Electricity Commission is once again 100% public. “Thanks to the workers who defended it as if it were the last churro in the office,” he highlighted, although with more elegant words.
And, according to her, the credit goes to the employees who prevented the CFE from ending up in private hands. “They are wonderful,” he said, because apparently they resisted neoliberal pressures with the same determination that we resist political memes on WhatsApp.
The goal now is to generate 26,000 megawatts in six years (equivalent to 60 plants like this, or the energy you spend watching TikTok until 3 AM). All this thanks to the 2025 energy reform, which basically gave the CFE a reset like when you update your iPhone and miraculously it works better.
Data that matters (or at least sounds impressive)
- 1,200 jobs generated during construction (and zero “energy influencer” positions, unfortunately).
- 3,500 MWh per year of production, enough to power your air conditioning in the summer and that of your complaining neighbor.
- 12,331 million dollars in planned investment until 2030, because electricity does not pay for itself (although sometimes it seems that way).
Even the Secretary of the Interior, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, joined the hype, remembering that Sheinbaum is not only a politician, but also an doctor in energy (that is, the ideal person to explain to you why your electricity bill went up while you just wanted to turn on the fan).
Meanwhile, the governor of SLP, Ricardo Gallardo, celebrated the arrival of more companies and infrastructure. Because in the end, this is not just energy: it is employment, development and, above all, the promise that there will be no blackouts during your favorite Netflix series.
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