September 14, 2026

CFE and MEXDC launch power planning for Mexico data centers

By:
Dallas Bond

Mexico’s federal electricity utility and the country’s data center industry group have agreed to begin coordinated power planning for new facilities, aiming to address one of the sector’s most immediate constraints: access to electricity when projects are ready to operate.

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Under the new framework, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and the Mexican Data Center Association (MEXDC) will work together to identify the energy and infrastructure needs of upcoming data center projects in Mexico. The agreement calls for permanent technical working groups to review load requirements and define electrical solutions based on each project’s location and characteristics.

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Sector growth is raising power needs

The coordination effort comes as Mexico’s data center sector reports 279MW of installed capacity, with another 205MW under construction in 2026. By 2031, the industry expects to require 1.73GW of capacity, increasing the need to plan generation, transmission, distribution, and storage before new projects begin operations.

The agreement is built on the premise that Mexico has enough electricity to support data center growth if future demand is identified early and incorporated into infrastructure planning. MEXDC will provide CFE with consolidated information on upcoming projects, expected expansion, and consumption profiles so technical teams can anticipate demand and determine what electrical infrastructure will be needed.

That coordination will extend across generation, transmission, distribution, and storage, with planning tailored to regional infrastructure conditions.

Weekly technical meetings and regional contacts

CFE and MEXDC will hold weekly technical meetings to analyze statistics, develop growth projections, and track individual projects. CFE will also assign Distribution personnel for areas where data centers already operate, giving projects designated contacts for regional electricity needs.

The organizations will also coordinate with other electricity-sector entities, including the National Energy Control Center (CENACE), when projects require additional procedures or coordination.

The focus on timing reflects a broader challenge for developers: securing power not only for a project’s launch, but also for future expansion as computing demand grows.

At Mexico Connect 2026, Hector Sanchez, Director of Operations, Equinix, described the issue this way: "Right now anyone can build 1MW or 8MW; the issue is that the power is not available, you turn on the tap, and nothing comes out", Sanchez said.

AI workloads intensify infrastructure demands

The pressure on electricity systems is growing as AI and cloud workloads increase computing density in data centers. The article notes that developers need power availability, grid stability, and expansion capacity to match the pace of infrastructure deployment.

Alejandro Preinfalk, President and CEO, Siemens Mexico, previously described the shift in these facilities’ technical demands in stark terms. "Today we call them AI factories to differentiate the concept because the technological requirements are distinct", Preinfalk said.

According to the source article, those changing requirements include higher energy consumption, greater power density, and more cooling demand tied to GPU-intensive computing.

Alejandro Peón, CEO, Naturgy Mexico, said concentrated industrial demand adds another layer of complexity because electricity infrastructure must also meet broader public needs. "The bottleneck is that energy for society is vital for human beings; the government has to ensure that everyone has access to energy", Peón said.

Planning before projects reach the grid

Rather than responding to individual requests as facilities near completion, the CFE-MEXDC mechanism is intended to bring project pipelines, regional information, and expected consumption into planning much earlier.

For Mexico, that means the goal is not only to connect individual data centers to the grid, but to align the expansion of digital infrastructure with the electricity system that supports it.

Read the source

Keywords:
CFE,MEXDC,data centers,energy planning,Mexico
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