Smart Grid and Renewable Energy, 2013, 4, 21-31
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/sgre.2013.46A003 Published Online September 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/sgre) 21
Security Regulations in Mexican Renewable Energies:
Case of Geothermal Projects
Alfonso Aragón-Aguilar, Georgina Izquierdo-Montalvo, Víctor Arellano-Gómez
Gerencia de Geotermia, Instituto de Investigaciones Eléctricas, Cuerna vac a, México.
Received February 20th, 2013; revised March 20th, 2013; accepted March 27th, 2013
Copyright © 2013 Alfonso Aragón-Aguilar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
ABSTRACT
A review of natural resources existing in México is done. The description of the renewable energies for electricity gen-
eration operating at date along the country, includes hydro, wind, solar, biomass and geothermal, among others. The
installed capacity (to 2012) in México for electric generation from renewable energies is equivalent to 22% of total
generation capacity. México has geothermal resources, which can be classified as high and low enthalpy, and of hot dry
rock. To date, the exploitation has focused mainly on high enthalpy geothermal fields. Geothermal power plants do not
burn fuel, preventing gas emissions helping to reduce global warming and greenhouse effect. Security risks in México
geothermal fields, as a part of renewable energies linked to Smart Grids, are described emphasizing their geographical
locations to facilitate the exposure to dangerous events. The results about research on Mexican Official Norms pro-
tecting environment related with geothermal operation projects are shown. The Mexican geothermal projects have de-
veloped under rules that provide security to workers and people, avoiding impacts on the environment. However, it was
found that it necessarily emphasized previsions to damages and remedial actions for grids due to risks by natural con-
tingencies (cyclones, winds, earthquakes) and by artificial causes such as vandalism (grids breaking, fire, explosions,
etc.). Unfortunately, there are no preventive norms against natural risks. After all the analyses carried out, security must
be considered by nature a dynamic and ever-changing process.
Keywords: Security; Renewable Energy; Geothermal; Hydro; Wind; Solar; Environment; Official Mexican Norms;
Geothermal Fields
1. Introduction
Smart grid is a form of efficient management of the elec-
tricity which uses computer technology to optimize pro-
duction and distribution of electricity in order to better
balance supply and demand between producers and con-
sumers. It is a concept of what the electrical power grid
should look like, where the grid itself uses modern net-
working technology to allow different parts of the grid to
communicate. The emergence of renewable energies in
the energy landscape has changed significantly. The en-
ergy flows now may be bidirectional. A smart grid sends
electricity from suppliers to consumers using two-way
digital technology to control consumer needs. This helps
to save energy, reduce costs and increase the usability
and transparency. Using energy efficiently, it contributes
to reduce CO2 emi ssi ons a nd gl o bal wa rming.
The new smart grids counters in homes or offices re-
port the use of energy to electric company and indicate
both to user and to power company the appropriate time
to reduce the consumption of electricity from the net-
work.
The smart grids not only provide energy but also in-
formation, including the next step in the electricity sup-
ply, applying information technology to make viable and
controllable network itself, both conventional and new
network elements [1]. The results of smart grids are
linked with satisfying the ordinary demand and with
small systems of generation and storage. The best control
given by smart grids is the high flow velocity, bidirec-
tional communications, high sensibility sensors and co-
ordination in real time of all components of network.
The main characteristics of smart grids, among others
are: allowing the active participation of consumers, op-
timal combination of all generation and storage options,
allowing the development of new products, services and
markets in the electric sector, optimizing the operation of
network elements, anticipation and response to system
disturbances, resistant to attacks and natural disasters.

Security Regulations in Mexican Renewable Energies: Case of Geothermal Projects
22
Smart grids can help reduce climate change by providing
information in innovative ways to asses and react to the
environmental impact of each user. Users can see in-
stantly the increase and reduction carbon emissions dur-
ing on or off or any changes in their appliances homes or
office equipments.
The renewable energies help smart grids, in the solu-
tion of challenges in diminution of CO2 emission during
electricity generation processes. The technology of smart
grids is being introduced quickly in the market, accord-
ing to the characteristics of each country. It is worth
mentioning that incidents involving electrical systems in
Europe and North America in seasons where the weather
is adverse are events that also have prompted the intro-
duction of smart grids technology. Another of the biggest
challenges of deploying millions of new devices for a
Smart Grid is that each of those devices could become a
potential target for hackers.
The control systems of smart grids are useful tools for
their effective operation. The algorithms, devices, ana-
lyze, diagnose, and predict conditions determine the ap-
propriate corrective actions for eliminating, preventing
and mitigating the disturbances in networking.
Renewable energies are compared to fossil fuels, an
inexhaustible source of energy that contributes to the
country’s energy as self-sufficient. They are less prejudi-
cial to environment avoiding the effects of direct uses
(environment pollution, waste) and derivatives from en-
ergy generation (drilling, roads, excavations etc.). These
are a profitable source for obtaining electrical energy
mainly in remote localities away from network and with
lack of infrastructure for interconnection. However, in
developed countries with extensive electrical infrastruc-
ture, the environmental costs of each energy source com-
pared to fossil fuels are taken into account.
Global consumption of electricity from renewable
sources grew by an av erage of 3 % from 20 08 to 20 09 [2].
The participation of renewable energies in total con-
sumption of electrical energy is equivalent to an average
of 20% [3]. The regions of the world leading the electric-
ity consumption from renewable energies are Asia, North
America and Europe. Table 1 shows electricity con-
sumption by regions from renewable energies [3].
In the world, it is expected an increase in electricity
generation from renewable energies for reducing gas
emissions which result in greenhouse effect [4]. By in-
creasing energy efficiency and the use of renewable en-
ergies, smart grids reduce climate change [5]. Security is
primarily about people, processes and technologies
working together to prevent an attack. It is not just tech-
nology, or a set of procedures, and it is not a one-time
investment. There is no single solution that is effective
for all organizations or applications, but effective solu-
tions that can be developed through the cooperation of
Table 1. Electricity consumption around the world (2008-
2009) by region, from renewable energies [3].
Region Consumption (TWH)
2008-2009 Growth (%) 2008-2009
Asia Pacific 1021 4
North America 837 2
Europe 834 4
Central and South America721 3
Rest of World 348 7
TOTAL 3761
vendors, systems integrators and end users.
A smart grid can alert system operators of potential
problems before it causes a failure avoiding users to
make calls reporting the failure [6] allowing a better
analysis about interruption causes. Its recovery capacity
is important as deterrent to an attack affecting the net-
work. Security is about managing risk, but the task of
defining security threats to power utility systems is a
difficult one, in part because there is relatively little sta-
tistical data on security breaches. These are (thankfully)
rare as compared, for example, to natural disasters like
hurricanes, ice storms and the like. Nature is also funda-
mentally random, and as such lends itself to statistical
analysis. Cyber threats, on the other hand, are posed by
human beings who are able to learn and change their
methods over time. Security in this context is by nature a
dynamic and ever-changing process. It can be considered
that it is never “completed” [7].
Security threats also do not know technical limits (i.e.,
there are many potential vectors of attack that might be
used to circumvent security measures). This is why secu-
rity experts often refer to the need to have “defense in
depth,” a combination of policies, procedures and tech-
nologies that are mutually reinforcing. Another distinc-
tion that shou ld be made with regard to security in utility
systems is the relationship between security and reliabil-
ity. These two objectives are not always aligned, due to
priorities behind each of them. Reliability and security
are on the same team. If a security breach allows an in-
truder to disrupt the utility’s operations and cause a
blackout, then clearly reliability has also been disturbed.
Meeting utility security requirements in the current
environment is a multi-faceted and ever-changing chal-
lenge. Security issues must constantly be revised through-
out the development process with a heavy emphasis
placed on security assessments and testing. The security
focus is on operating the network to maximize reliability.
Likewise, security professionals typically are not opera-
tional people, and their focus is on preserving the integ-
rity and functionality of the syste m. Security begins with
policies that address human behavior, which is the basis

Security Regulations in Mexican Renewable Energies: Case of Geothermal Projects 23
for all security whether technical, procedural or organ-
izational. Relatively few security cases can be attributed
solely to a technological failure. Some examples of basic
but vital practices include: using and listening to alarms;
removing unused software from servers and work sta-
tions; disabling unused services; removing unused ac-
counts; changing default passwords regularly; verifying
system setup on a redundant or test system not the pro-
duction server; using host-based firewalls; regularly up-
dating antivirus software and using a vendor’s patch man-
agement process.
2. A Review on Smart Grids in México
The Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) is the re-
sponsible sector of the Mexican government for elec-
tricity generation. It uses different sources to achieve its
objective such as wind, hydro, geothermal, solar, bio-
mass among others. The natural sources of México are
important in its technological development; is part of the
“sun belt” receiving an average solar radiation of 5
(kWh/m2) per day. The country has the fourth place in
the world on installed capacity of electric generation
from geothermal. In different states (BC, BCS, Chihua-
hua, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Tabasco,
Yucatán, among others) there are conditions for opera-
tion wind power plants [8].
The installed capacity (up 2012) in México, for
electric generation from renewable energies is equivalent
to 22% of total generation capacity in the country. Table
2 shows the generation capacity from each type of re-
newable energy. México encourages the energy sector
through projects, progr ams and actions to achieve greater
use and development of renewable energy sources and
clean technologies. In the country there are more than
200 power plants from renewable energy sources. The
map of Figure 1 [9,10] shows a distribution of power
plants using renewable energy along Mexican territory.
Oaxaca is the Mexican state with major quantity of wind
projects and Veracruz with biomass.
Due to extensive quantity and capacity of renewable
sources in México it expected that total electric gen-
eration to date of 14,357 MWe would be twice for 2025
[2,9].
As it can be seen from Table 2, hydropower represents
about 80% of installed capacity in México from renew-
able en ergies. Different studies [2,9,10] forecast the growth
of installed capacity using renewable sources. Table 3
shows the potential which, could be developed from each
energy type.
3. An Overview on Geothermal in México
The goal of this paper is focused to describe security
Table 2. Installed capacity of electricity generation in Mé-
xico (up 2012) from renewable energies [2].
Energy type Installed capacity
operating (MWe) Percentage participation (%)
Wind 1215 8.46
Geothermal 958 6.67
Hydropower 11,603 80.82
Solar* 33 0.23
Biomass 548 3.82
TOTAL 14,357 100
*Photovoltaic projects of small and medium scale applications mainly in
residential and rural ele ctrification.
Table 3. Potential capacity of electricity generation in Mé-
xico from renewable energies [2].
Energy type Potential capacity (MW)
Wind 71,000
Geothermal 40,000
Hydropower 53,000
Solar 24,300
Biomass 83,500
WIND
SOLAR
GEOTHERMAL
HYDRO
BIOMASS
Figure 1. Mexican states with installed capacity for elec-
tricity generation from renewable sources [9,10].
risks in Mexican geothermal fields, as part of renewable
energies that are linked to Smart grids. Geothermal
power plants do not burn fuel, preventing gas emissions
and help to reduce global warming and greenhouse effect.
México has geothermal resources, which can be classi-
fied as high and low enthalpy, and of hot dry rock. These
last energy type mentioned would be exploited by meth-
odology of Enhanced Geothermal System [11]. Figure 2
shows a map of thermal manifestations and the locations
of geothermal fields with their respective capacity of
electric generation [10,12,13].

Security Regulations in Mexican Renewable Energies: Case of Geothermal Projects
24
The total capacity of electricity generation from geo-
thermal resources is of 958 MWe through the four fields
operating to date [13]. Cerro Prieto geothermal field in
Mexican state of Baja California is the largest capacity in
Country, to date with 720 MWe. Its first generation
power plant started in operation since 1973. The total
number of drilled wells in these fields is 546. Aditionally
were drilled about 20 wells in other fields (La Primavera
Jalisco, Las Derumbadas Puebla, and Ceboruco Nayarit).
Table 4 [13,14] shows an update summary of main
characteristic parameters of each geothermal field in op-
eration; as it can be seen the average depth, except Los
Azufres, is higher than 2000 m.
Figure 2. Locations of thermal manifestations in Mexican
territory sampled by CFE, operating fields and geothermal
power plants [10,12,13].
Table 4. Updated summary of characteristic parameters of
the four Mexican geothermal fields in operation [13,14].
Data/Field Cerro
Prieto BC Los Azufres Mich.
Los
Humeros
Pue.
Las tres
Vírgenes
BCS
Installed Capacity
(MWe) 720 188 40 10
Production wells
(number) 172 39 23 4
Injection wells
(number) 16 6 3 1
Brine flow rate
production(t/h) 7325 568 65 230
Average flow rate of
Brine by well (t/h) 42.6 14.6 2.8 57.5
Steam flow rate
production (t/h) 4562 1668 581 71
Average flow rate of
steam by well (t/h) 26.5 42.8 25.3 17.8
Total number of
drilled wells 402 88 45 11
Average depth
by well (m) 2392 1583 2179 2037
Average bottomhole
temperature (˚C) 310 340 360 280
Before pointing out the security concepts of the four
geothermal fields in operation within Smart Grids, it is
appropriate describe the environment where they are lo-
cated. General data on location of these geothermal fields
are as follows:
1) The Cerro Prieto geothermal field is located about
40 km to southeast of Mexicali city, between meridians
115˚12' and 115˚18' west long and parallels 32˚22' and
32˚26' north latitude [15].
2) The Los Azufres geothermal field is located 80 km
to east of Morelia City into the San Andrés mountain,
between meridians 100˚38' 32'' and 100˚43'38'' west long
and parallels 19˚45'12'' and 19˚50'08'' north latitude [16].
3) The Los Humeros geothermal field is located at the
border of Puebla and Veracruz states, about 30 km to
north of Perote town, located between 97˚23' and 97˚35'
west long and 19˚35' and 19˚45' north latitude [17].
4) The geothermal field of Las Tres Vírgenes is lo-
cated at the eastern end of the peninsula of south Baja
California between 112˚24' and 112˚40' west long and
27˚40' and 27˚59' north latitude [18].
General visualization on the wells location on the fo ur
geothermal fields is shown in Figures 3 to 6.
From the images taken from Google Earth it can be
distinguished the major or minor density of trees in each
field. We introduced some marks as reference character-
istics, such as the location of power plants, or representa-
tive wells in each field. So it is feasible to assume that
the Los Azufres geothermal field is located in a wood-
land zone. However the Cerro Prieto geothermal field is
in a desert zone [14]. The Los Humeros geothermal field
is classified as an area little wooded and Las Tres Vírge-
nes field as a semidesert area [19,20].
The above description about the environment of Mexi-
can geothermal fields is useful to understand security
concepts related to geothermal as a renewable source and
Figure 3. General environment view, pow er plants and par-
ticular characteristics of the Cerro Prieto geothermal field.

Security Regulations in Mexican Renewable Energies: Case of Geothermal Projects 25
Figure 4. Image showing location of wells limiting the ex-
ploitation area, characteristic lakes, power plant and gen-
eral environment of Los Azufres geothermal field.
Figure 5. Image indicating representative places, main geo-
logical structures and environment of Los Humeros geo-
thermal field.
its relation to smart grids. The security in a geothermal
project covers to environment, to people to utilities and
distribution grids.
4. Security in Operations of a Geothermal
Project
A geothermal project involves stages of exploration,
drilling, well testing, production evaluation, operation
(power plant and wells) and wells repairing. Taking into
account these activities the security risks are described
following.
4.1. Exploration Stage
This stage involves geological-geophysical research and
Figure 6. Image showing wells and geothermal field envi-
ronment of Las Tres Vírgenes.
sampling of fumaroles and thermal manifestations for
geochemical studies. The security risks during explora-
tion are mainly related with personal accidents and with
vandalism against technical staff.
By this reason is highly recommended that exploration
team be composed by at least five technical people. The
risks for technicians participating in this stage are the
natural topography of the work, the climatic conditions,
the rain, the cold weather etc. among others. The trans-
port and handling of geophysical research equipment is
another cause of security risk by the vandalism against
equipment. According with [21-24] the sampling tech-
niques include the use of appropriate equipment, clothing
and accessories for obtaining representative brines and
gases, taking into account protection of sampling per-
sonnel.
4.2. Drilling Stage
The security risks in this project stage mainly are acci-
dents by the use of heavy equipment, chemical additives
of drilling fluids, gases emission and temperature during
chemical sampling of drilling fluids. Other incidents in-
fluencing in security of the project and for personnel
working are fuels combustion of machinery, difficult ac-
cess from and to towns by rural roads in case of any in-
convenience such as the wells blowout.
The environment i mpacts during drilling stage are due
to construction of roads for accessing to wells localities,
ground compaction and excavations for drilling mud
ponds. The noises of machinery of drilling equipment
composed by winch, compressors and pumps of drilling
fluid circulation are elements impacting the environment
and personnel working. The combustion gases emission,
residuals of lubricants, greases and drilling fluid also are

Security Regulations in Mexican Renewable Energies: Case of Geothermal Projects
26
factors of security risks to environment and workers.
Different Mexican standards for environmental protec-
tion are applied by CFE during development of geother-
mal projects. So [25] establishes the maximum noise
levels, [26] regulates the gases emission by fuels com-
bustion, [27] is applied for waste water. The regulation
for handling residuals of greases and lubricants from
drilling jobs is established in [28,29]. The prevention of
aquifer contamination is regulated through [30]. The
norm developed according to characteristics of Mexican
geothermal fields [23] is focused to environment and
people protection, covering aspects to be applied in this
stage of geothermal proje c t .
4.3. Well Tests
Temperature and pressure logs, transient pressure tests
through water injection at different flow rates, sampling
cuts in drilling mud are the different actions at well com-
pletion stage. The analysis results are useful for making
decisions to define the best production thickness for well
completion. The security risks in this stage are locations
of wells away from towns, the lack of clear and appro-
priate communications, fatigue due to long workdays for
tests, rain, cold weather, etc. It is highly recommended to
create working groups that can alternate in the technical
responsibilities of these operations. The security for op-
erative personnel is based in official Mexican norm [24]
which covers working aspects.
4.4. Productions Evaluations
Reservoir engineers, production, geochemical, mechani-
cal among others, are different specialists involved in
well productivity characterization. Their preparation and
experience is aimed to solving technical and practical
challenges in this type of field operations. Adversity cli-
mate, terrain, gas emission from wells, the problems in
communication, and even vandalism are the security
risks for the work ing group. During injection tests, pump
motors generate noise and gases impacting health of
technical personnel and environment, by this reason CFE
applies security procedures established in regulation [25].
High temperatures of produced fluid are a security risk
for people and environment (vegetation, atmosphere,
animals). Pressure in discharge pipes are a security risk
for people. The security r egulations [22,23] allo w protect
of damage against risk s from operations under th ese con-
ditions. These norms regulate the discharges of produc-
tion evaluations of wells.
The measurements of noise in geothermal fields are
carried out by CFE in order to implement actions for
accomplish the maximum limits from fixed sources es-
tablished in [31]. The results of wells production evalua-
tion are applied for establishing production designs,
equipment installation (valves, separators, silencers,
pipes, etc) for wells operation, and fluid transport to
power plant. The accuracy of the evaluation results is the
basis for field expansion projects. The interconnection
designs of the power plant with general distribution sys-
tem are projected in this stage therefore the evaluations
are a main activity in smart grid operation.
4.5. Continuous Operation
During the stage of well exploitation and after its incur-
poration to the network of steam transporting to the
power plant, the security risks to environment occur in
the well locations, as in the power plant. The causes of
the environmental impact are brines with precipitates,
water vapors, gases and noises. Fluid sampling is risky,
to people security, b ecause some of the chemical species
in the liquid and gas phase. The measurement instru-
ments, security equipment and working clothes must be
resistant to high temperatures and corrosive fluids [24].
The security to people and installations is guaranteed
by Mexican Army at the power plants, however off-site
(producer wells and network pipes) there is not security
and could exist vandalism acts. Figures 3 to 6 show lo-
cations of Mexican geothermal fields and can be seen
that are away from towns, it diminishes impact risk to
people, but could be risks to local environment (flora and
wildlife). During continuous exploitation, the production
parameters of wells are evaluated periodically in order to
characterize their trends which normally are related to
the decline.
The continuous monitoring includes measurements of
pressure and temperatures at the wellhead, at separator,
at steam pipes (instruments of differential pressure) at
measurement instruments of channels of discharged brine,
among others. A natural response to exploitation is the
variations of productive characteristics (mass flow, pres-
sure, enthalpy, etc., among others) influencing in per-
formance reduction of the well. These factors indicate
reservoir decline and the wells which h ave entered in this
process are replaced by new drilling in order to meet
with steam requirements of power plant. However in the
majority of cases the production starts to decline after a
time operation. This duration is function of reservoir
characteristics (Permeability, porosity, flow, chemical
composition, recharge etc.). For preventing an unex-
pected decline it is important con tinuously monitoring all
reservoir characteristics for taking decisions about
changes to apply in th e well exploitation.
The residual water discharges, combustion gases emis-
sions and noises produced by equipment operations are
regulated [25-27,32]. The CFE provides security equip-
ment and working clothes to avoid impact risks to envi-
ronment and people. For monitoring chemical and iso-

Security Regulations in Mexican Renewable Energies: Case of Geothermal Projects 27
topic behavior of wells and reservoirs, fluids are sampled
in specific points: a) Along pipes transporting steam to
power plants; b) At the discharge channels, c) At the
storage ponds for brine cooling before reinjection. High
temperatures in sampling places are the security r isks for
personnel working in these activities, so it is mandatory
to use tools, working and protection equipment resistant
to critical temperatures operation [23].
4.6. Maintaining and Wells Repair
The equipment, machinery, pumps, compressors, etc.,
used in this stag e are similar to those used during drilling.
The only one difference is that a repair is done in less
time than the drilling. The impact risks to environment
are due to combustion gases and noises of motors, be-
sides residual disposal of fluids and materials. The offi-
cial Mexican norms [25,26,28,33] establish limits for
combustion gases emission and noise from motors,
pumps, compressors etc., and respective residual disposal.
The aquifers protection during maintain and repair of
wells is regulated [34]. The security risks for personnel
working health are: exposition to inclement weather,
handling heavy equipment, high level of noise even
though, the CFE provides protection equipment to avoid
these impact risks.
4.7. Laboratories Work
The drilling cuts are analyzed at laboratories, also the
fluid sampled during evaluation discharges, production
tests and continuous operation. The main security risk to
working personnel of geothermal laboratories is by han-
dling of chemical substances and acids being used as
reactive material [24]. The security risk to env ironment is
the use of laboratory equipment, material and chemical
substances in the analyses [28].
5. Comments and Discussion
The article 81 of law o f National Waters [35] establishes
that exploitation, use and exploitation of groundwater in
steam phase or with temperature higher to 80˚C, with
possibility of aquifer affectation requires prior permi-
ssion for geothermal generation or other applications, in
order to evaluate environment impact. The CFE applies
damage repair processes, which include handling of
sanitary residuals, control in construction activities and
in personnel working, restoring of original conditions,
reforestation activities in area, among others [36]. Before
the advent of official Mexican norm [23], the regulations
about gases emission, noise, material residuals, waste
water, soils contamination, etc., were done through
norms adapted from sanitary and environmental en-
gineering.
The development of an environmental standard appro-
priate to the characteristics of Mexican geothermal fields
is the result of technological consolidation of this
industry. Power generation from geothermal energy in
México as a renewable source, operates with security to
environment and people, obeying established standards.
It is important to emphasize that official Mexican norms
are in agreement with international stand ards.
Following are shown the differ ent norms being app lied
in geothermal Mexican projects. These are ordered by
institution an d their sequential number, although the date
does not appear with ordered manner. The year cor-
responds to date they were published at the Official
Federation Daily (DOF).
5.1. National Water Commission (CNA)
NOM-003-CNA-1996 [30]: Requirements to take into
account during drilling wells for water extraction in order
to prevent aquifers contamination. This standard is
adapted from water drilling wells to apply during drillin g
of geothermal wells.
NOM-004-CNA-1996 [34]: Requirements for aquifers
protection during maintenance and repair of wells and for
their general closure. This standard also is adapted from
water wells for be applied during operation, repair and
maintain of geothermal wells.
5.2. Secretary of Environment and Natural
Resources (SEMARNAT)
NOM-001-SEMARNAT-1996 [27]: Establishes the maxi-
mum limits of contaminants that may contain discharges
of wastewater in waters and national terrains. With ex-
ception in the exploration stage, in all the stages of a
geothermal Project there are discharges of wastewater,
therefore this norm is applied in those stag es.
NOM-041-SEMARNAT-2006 [29]: This standard es-
tablishes the maximum permissible limits gases emission
from auto motors vehicles using gasoline as fuel. During
drilling and repair operations there are gas emanations
from the equipment motors. Along discharge evaluations
and power plant operation, the vehicles transporting per-
sonnel discharge some gases even in less quantity how-
ever this norm is applied in these stages.
NOM-045-SEMARNAT-2006 [26]: It establishes the
maximum permissible levels of smoke opacity dis-
charged by vehicles auto motors in circulation, which use
diesel or mixtures with diesel as fuel. This norm is ap-
plied during drilling and wells repair, because the con-
tinuous vehicles traffic carrying equipment, tools, mate-
rials and personnel working during these stages. Besides
along discharge evaluations and power plant operation,
the vehicles transporting personnel discharge some gases
even in less quantity; however this norm also is applied

Security Regulations in Mexican Renewable Energies: Case of Geothermal Projects
28
in these stages.
NOM-052-SEMARNAT-2005 [33]: Establishes cha-
racteristics of dangerous wastes, list of them and limits
for considering a residual as danger by its toxicity to en-
vironment. The standard is applied during drilling, well
tests, production evaluation, continuous operation, repair,
and laboratory analysis, because in all of these stages are
produced waste materials.
NOM-054-SEMARNAT-1993 [21]: Establishes the pro-
cedure for determining the incompatible between differ-
ent wastes considered as dangerous by [33]. It is applied
in all the stages, because in all of these are produced
waste materials and need to be characterized.
NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 [22]: Environmental
protection-Mexican native species of flora and fauna-
risks categories and specifications to include, exclude or
change-list of species in risk. This standard is focused to
general environmental protection covering native flora,
fauna and species in dangerous risk, therefore is applied
in all the stages of a geothermal project.
NOM-080-SEMARNAT-1994 [25]: Establishes the
maximum limits acceptable of noise emissions produced
by vehicles or other motorized circulating in the working
area and the measurement method. The vehicles circulate
in the working area mainly during drilling, repair and
continuous operation delivering steam flow to power
plant. Therefore this standard is applied in these stages.
NOM-081-SEMARNAT-1994 [31]: Establishes the
maximum permissible limits of noise emissions from
fixed sources and the method for measuring it. The only
fixed sources of noise emission are the power plants be-
cause the other noise sources, su ch as drilling, evalu ation
and wells repair are temporaries. The scope of this stan-
dard is for be applied during continuous operation of a
geothermal project.
NOM-114-SEMARNAT-1998 [32]: Establishes the
specifications of environmental protection for planning,
design, construction, operation and maintenance of elec-
tric conduction grids, for operation in urban, suburban,
rural, agricultural area, industrial, services and tourism.
The aspects covered by this standard are related with
those corresponding to operational stage of electricity
generation and distribution through networks.
NOM-138-SEMARNAT/SA1-2003 [28]: Establishes
maximum acceptable limits of hydrocarbon wastes in
soils and specifications for characterization and respec-
tive remediation. The guidelines of this standard are ap-
plied mainly in drilling and repair stages because the
hydrocarbons and their related are used during such op-
erations.
NOM-150-SEMARNAT-2006 [23]: Establishes tech-
nical specifications of environmental protection that must
be observed in construction and preliminary assessment
activities of geothermal wells for exploring, located in
agricultural areas, livestock and wasteland, offsite from
natural protected areas, and forest land. The regulations
mentioned in this stand ard are applied in all the stag es of
Mexican geothermal projects due to its extensive cover-
age.
5.3. Secretary of Work and Social Provision
(STPS)
NOM-011-STPS-2001 [24]: Establishes regulations for
safety and health conditions in working places producing
noise. It is applied during all the stages of a geothermal
project, except exploration, because machines, discharg-
ing wells, power plant, distribution networking and labo-
ratory equipment, are noise generation sources.
A quickly review, of the norms established for prevent
impacts to security of people and environment is shown
in Table 5. This table show s the issuing institution, iden-
tification of norm and the stage for applying.
Besides the above mentioned regulations, the CFE
takes into account National Development Plan for the
zone and their ecological programs, to start each new
geothermal project. The relevant activities of a geother-
mal project, which can produce a risk of environmental
impact, among others are [37,38]: 1) Emission to the
atmosphere of non-condensable gases; 2) Constructions
and infrastructure; 3) W aste generation by wells drilling,
construction, maintenance and installations repair; 4)
Waste water, 5) Electric generation; 6) Use of machinery
and equipment producing noise and combustion gases
emission; 7) Excavations and road constructions; 8)
Compacting and conditioning of sites for wells and gen-
erating plants.
Perceptible impact factors in the environment of geo-
thermal project [37,38] are: 1) Changes in the air quality
due to motors smoke, powder in the air during construc-
tions and CO2, H2S emissions among other gases by op-
eration plants; 2) Improve in local economy by jobs gen-
erating, directly from the project and indirectly from re-
lated services such as laundry, foods, hosting etc.; 3)
Increase in noise levels due to drilling operations, com-
paction and conditioning of well sites, access roads,
power plant, and energy generation and distribution; 4)
Alteration condition s for vegetable and animal species of
the environment.
6. Conclusions
The renewable energies help smart grids, in the solution
of challenges in diminution of CO2 emission during elec-
tricity generation processes, by reducing climate change
and impact to environment.
The natural sources of México are important on the
technological development. The installed capacity (to
2012) in México for electric generation from renewable
energies is equivalent to 22% of total electric generation
caacity in the country. p

Security Regulations in Mexican Renewable Energies: Case of Geothermal Projects
29
Table 5. Summary of regulations related to people and environment, which are applied in different stages of Mexican geo-
thermal projects.
Institution Number Regulation Stages of applicability
*CNA NOM-003-CNA-1996 [30] Drilling
*CNA NOM-004-CNA-1996 [34] Repair and maintenance
**SEMARNAT NOM-0 01-SEMARNAT-1996 [27] All the stages, except exploration
**SEMARNAT NOM-041-SEMARNAT-2006 [29]
Drilling, repair, evaluation,
power generation
**SEMARNAT NOM-045-SEMARNAT-2006 [26]
Drilling, repair, evaluation,
power generation
**SEMARNAT NOM-052-SEMARNAT-2005 [33]
Drilling, repair, evaluation,
power generation, labor atory tests
**SEMARNAT NOM-054-SEMARNAT-1993 [21] All the stages
**SEMARNAT NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 [22] All the stages
**SEMARNAT NOM-080-SEMARNAT-1994 [25] Drilling, repair, power generation
**SEMARNAT NOM-081-SEMARNAT-1994 [31] Power generation
**SEMARNAT NOM-114-SEMARNAT-1998 [32] Power generation
**SEMARNAT NOM-138-SEMARNAT-2003 [28] Drilling, repair
**SEMARNAT NOM-150-SEMARNAT-2006 [23] All the stages
***STPS NOM-011-STPS-2001 [24] All the stages
*CNA.-Comisión Nacional del agua (Water National Commission); **SEMARNAT.-Secretaria del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Secretary of
environment and natural resources); ***STPS.- Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social (Secretary of work and social provision).
México encourages the energy sector through projects,
programs and actions to achieve greater use and devel-
opment of renewable energy sources and clean technolo-
gies because it has resources for electric generation using
hydro, wind, solar, biomass and geothermal.
The total capacity of electricity generation from geo-
thermal resources is 958 MWe through the four fields
operating to date. Mexican geothermal projects have de-
veloped under rules that provide security to workers and
people, avoiding impacts to the environment.
A review of the different Mexican official standards
related with gases combustion emissions, noise, waste-
waters, soils contamination by residual hydrocarbons,
brine discharges, has been carried out.
The Official standard Mexican developed considering
particular characteristics of fields and geothermal pro-
jects of the country is focused on guaranteeing the secu-
rity of people and environment. The regulations menti oned
in this standard are applied in all the stages of Mexican
geothermal projects and the coverage is extensive.
The combination of different Mexican Official stan-
dards, at present covers safety aspects, personnel health
and environment protection, however, needs to be up-
dated periodically according to technological develop-
ments.
However, it was found that it’s necessary to emphasize
previsions to damages for grids due to risks by natural
contingencies (cyclones, winds, earthquakes) and by arti-
ficial causes such as vandalism (grids breaking, fire, ex-
plosions, etc.).
In geothermal projects, the physical security risks,
mainly due to vandalism, are focused on wells installa-
tions, steam networks, energy transmission grids. The
power plants security is guaranteed by Mexican Army.
It is recommended continuous monitoring of well per-
formance for preventing its production decline to meet
with requirements of steam delivering to power plant.
7. Acknowledgements
The authors express their gratitude to the authorities of
Instituto de Investigaciones Eléctricas by the support to
publish this work. The suggestions and comments of re-
viewers and editors of Journal Smart Grid and Renew-
able Energy for improving it are appreciated.
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