Consultation - Gunaa Sicarú Wind Project

The consultation process provides a dedicated, constructive space for the community to discuss the project’s implications and receive accurate information so that they can reach an informed decision.

Consultation is prior and essential for any renewable project. EDF Renewables is committed to respecting the stages of consultation with local communities, which are essential for the successful development of all its wind and solar projects around the world.

Starting in 2014, EDF Renewables in Mexico has had numerous and regular contacts with the local communities throughout the upstream phase of the public consultation for the Gunaa Sicarú project. General information and dialogue meetings with local communities were held every year until 2018; as well as information meetings with local stakeholders (associations, professional unions, elected officials).

EDF Renewables in Mexico carried out these actions, thanks in particular to its local team dedicated to community relations. Present in the country for 20 years, EDF Renewables Mexico has developed a long-term relationship of trust with the local communities.

Three regional offices are open on working days to better answer questions from local communities and landowners.

Since 2018, these discussions have continued as part of the official consultation process exclusively conducted by the Mexican authorities. EDF Renewables, in respect to the Mexican law, has therefore suspended its information process in order to preserve the integrity of the consultation.

Gunaa Sicarú is currently being developed under an updated Mexican legal framework that requires consultations in line with International Labor Organization Convention 169 (Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989). Its permits, authorizations, and contracts are contingent on obtaining the local indigenous communities’ free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC). In addition, a local constitutional judge oversees and monitors the compliance of the consultation process with local legislations and international standards.

At the beginning of 2018, the public consultation phase was launched carried out by the Secretariat de Energy (SENER), as provided by Mexican law.

The consultation process has been interrupted by the Mexican authorities several times notably due to the organization of local elections in 2018, a 2017 major earthquake effects, and the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

EDF Renewables Mexico has been recently been informed that the consultation phase of the project with local residents will soon be resumed.

Upon completion of the consultation, a deliberate phase will take place. This stage marks the moment when the community deliberates on the basis of the information presented on the project. This phase takes place only between members of the community. No external authority (State or private actor) intervenes, in order to guarantee the full exercise of the community's right to self-determination, autonomy and free consent.

Once the community notifies that its internal deliberations have been completed, the agreements phase will then be carried out. Once the consultation process has been completed, and provided that the free, prior and informed consent of the affected populations has been obtained in accordance with local and international standards, EDF Renewables will then be able to proceed with the project.

The consultation is opened to all members of the communities.

EDF Renewables is mindful of the complexities of land rights issues in this region of Oaxaca. For that reason, it has confirmed through the National Agrarian Registry that no ejidos, or communal lands, will be impacted by the project.