New Regulations On Electricity Generation And Storage Permits

On October 23, 2025, the Ministry of Energy published in the Federal Register the General Administrative Provisions establishing the legal, technical, and financial terms for applications for the granting or modification of permits for the generation and storage of electric energy, as well as their effective term (the "General Administrative Provisions for Generation and Storage Permits").

The DACGs for Generation and Storage Permits establish the requirements that shall be met by those interested in obtaining an electricity generation or storage permit under the Electricity Sector Law ("LSE") and its Regulations, as well as the applicable formats.

To this end, a series of general requirements applicable to all permit applications are established, followed by specific requirements for each of the following types of permits:

• generation for self-consumption;
• generation for interconnected self-consumption in power plants with a capacity of 0.7 to 20 MW;
• generation for the Wholesale Electricity Market (MEM);
• generation for export; and
• electric energy storage.

Likewise, the DACGs for Generation and Storage Permits establish the requirements that shall be met by those interested in modifying electricity generation or storage permits, including modifications involving the migration of permits granted under the Electric Power Public Utility Law or the Electric Industry Law to permits granted under the LSE and its Regulations.

Additionally, the DACGs for Generation and Storage Permits establish:

• the cases in which a change is considered an update of a permit (and not a modification),
• the cases in which the modification of permits will not be permitted, and therefore, the permit holder shall request the termination of its permit and the granting of a new one;
• the requirements applicable to applications for authorization for the assignment of permits, and the requirements applicable in the event of a merger or spin-off of a permit holder;
• The special requirements applicable to the modification of the work programs established in the permits.

The DACGs for Generation and Storage Permits also regulate the procedure for evaluating applications submitted to the National Energy Commission ("CNE") and the criteria applied to determine the effective term of the electricity generation or storage permits granted by the CNE. Based on these criteria, SENER has determined that the maximum effective term of the different types of permits will be as follows:

• generation for self-consumption: 20 years;
• generation for the MEM other than mixed schemes: 25 years;
• generation for specific uses: emergency – 1 year, others – 5 years;
• generation for export: 20 years;
• migration for self-consumption or MEM: 15 years plus the remainder of the permit's effective term, without exceeding 30 years;
• migration for self-consumption, not operating: 20 years;
• migration for MEM, not operating: 25 years.
• electricity storage: 20 years.

The DACGs for Generation and Storage Permits became effective the day after their publication.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.