2027 Budget Allocates 46.6M Pesos to Restart Geothermal Studies at La Primavera

The 2027 Federal Expenditure Budget Proposal (PPEF) allocates 46,682,213 pesos to the Cerritos Colorados geothermal field, located within the La Primavera Flora and Fauna Protection Area in Jalisco. The line item, project key 2653TVV0467, is funded with the Comisión Federal de Electricidad's (CFE) own revenues rather than fiscal resources, according to El Occidental.

The document specifies that the funds will finance 72 pre-investment studies with two objectives: preserving the concession title to exploit the field and addressing the conditions that have prevented power-generation projects from moving forward in the area. Construction of a geothermal power plant is not contemplated for 2027. The allocation arrives in a year of sector-wide adjustment: the 2027 PPEF proposes 523,747 million pesos for CFE, a real-terms reduction of 8.5% relative to 2026, according to El Financiero. The project was reactivated in 2008 with a first phase of 25 megawatts that was never built; the Auditoría Superior de la Federación documented that the plant, then rated at 27 gross megawatts, had not begun construction.

The field carries four decades of history. Between 1980 and 1989 the CFE drilled 13 wells reaching approximately 3,000 meters in depth at Cerritos Colorados, and in 1989 environmental authorities suspended operations after identifying loss of vegetation cover, harm to wildlife, and soil erosion, according to a study published in 2026 in Geofísica Internacional, a journal of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. That study identifies 21 impacts not considered in the 2008 environmental impact assessment, including ground subsidence and contamination by fluorine, boron, mercury, and arsenic. It also reports 59 milligrams per kilogram of arsenic in mud sediments, above the 22-to-40 range established by NOM-147. The 2027 PPEF includes a separate CFE geothermal pre-investment program, with 19,670,879 pesos earmarked for exploration and potential well drilling.

The proposal now goes to the Chamber of Deputies, where the final allocation will be determined. The next developments to watch are the approved budget for Cerritos Colorados and the field's physical-progress reports, which still show no plant under construction.

This article was drafted with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.