Three environmental and social changes that set the size of an energy project

Bajío Ventures · September 2026

Three pieces of regulation now define the environmental and social burden of an energy project in Mexico. Only one is already in force: the Energy Sector Social Impact Statement (MISSE). Another is a draft law with no practical effect before 2027: the new General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection (LGEEPA). The third has not changed, but it underpins everything: the federal environmental impact regulation.

Read together, the message is simple. Projects below 0.7 MW still carry almost no federal burden. Projects of 0.7 MW or more enter a heavier process with a mandatory social cost.

1. New LGEEPA: a draft, not yet law

SEMARNAT circulated a first draft in May 2026, discussed it at a forum in the Chamber of Deputies on 6 August, published a second draft on 18 August and presented it publicly on 26 August. The proposal rewrites the entire law, from 204 to 331 articles.

• Which works need authorisation. The test shifts from “serious ecological imbalance” to “significant environmental impact”. That may bring more projects into the procedure.
• Strategic environmental assessment. New, and applicable to strategic infrastructure arising from national planning.
• Deadlines. SEMARNAT would have 45 to 60 days to decide, extendable by up to 60 more days in exceptional cases.
• Offsets. The assessment must analyse residual impacts to define compensation measures.
• Insurance. Only environmental damage insurance is required.
• Fines. The cap falls from 7.5 million to 2 million UMA.
• Public participation. Aligned with the Escazú Agreement.
• Biodiversity. Adds instruments such as biological corridors and biocultural landscapes.
• Monitoring. Introduces satellite and AI-based monitoring.
• Transition. Procedures already under way would be decided under the old law, or the developer could opt into the new one. SEMARNAT would have 365 days to issue regulations and the states one year to harmonise their laws.

Practical effect: even if Congress passes it soon, nothing changes in practice before 2027.

2. MISSE: already in force

• SENER published the rules in the Official Gazette (DOF) on 16 February 2026; they apply from 17 February.
• They cover generation, transmission and, as a new category, storage.
• Exempt: plants that do not require a generation permit — that is, those below 0.7 MW.
• Formats A, B and C: assigned on a territorial basis, depending on whether the project sits inside or outside an industrial zone.
• New cost: the budget for shared social benefits must be equal to or greater than the cost of addressing the social impacts identified.

3. Federal environmental impact regulation: unchanged, but it is the base

• Article 5, section K lists hydroelectric, wind, geothermal, thermal and other plants. It does not mention solar PV.
• Self-supply generation needs authorisation only above 3 MW.
• An installation inside an industrial park that already holds a SEMARNAT authorisation goes through a preventive report (article 29, section III), not a full environmental impact statement (MIA).

What it means by project type

Project type	Federal MIA	MISSE	What to do
Behind-the-meter PV + batteries, under 0.7 MW per plant	Generally not required (PV not listed, under 3 MW)	Exempt	Keep each site below 0.7 MW. Check whether the state authority (SMAOT in Guanajuato) or the municipality requires anything. Include an end-of-life plan for batteries, which are hazardous waste
PV + storage of around 1 MW	Probably not	Probably yes: it needs a CNE permit and storage is a new category	Check whether the 0.7 MW threshold is measured in AC or DC. If the site is above it, build the MISSE and shared-benefit costs into the financial model
Collective or park-level self-supply, 0.7 to 20 MW	Above 3 MW, probably yes; via preventive report if the park is authorised	Yes (format A or B inside an industrial zone)	Prioritise parks with an approved MIA. The social cost goes into the tariff
Geothermal and concentrated solar for power	Yes (geothermal and thermal plants, section K)	Yes (geothermal is listed explicitly)	Plan for a long permitting cycle from day one
Solar park on rural land	Possible, due to land-use change	Yes, if above 0.7 MW	The new law adds biological corridors and offsets: a design with a conservation component becomes an asset, not a cost

The reading

1. The 0.7 MW cap is also an environmental and social advantage. Below it, a project avoids the CNE permit and the MISSE, and generally the federal MIA. One more argument for plant-by-plant distributed generation.
2. Projects of 0.7 MW or more carry a mandatory social cost. Model it before quoting, rather than discovering it during permitting.
3. The new LGEEPA creates work before it creates risk. States will have one year to harmonise their laws, and strategic assessment, offsets and satellite monitoring require technical capacity few state governments have today. Guanajuato and Querétaro should start preparing in 2027.

Two readings in this piece should be confirmed with environmental counsel case by case: that PV under 3 MW at an industrial plant falls outside the federal MIA, and what the state procedure requires in that case. This analysis is not legal advice.

Sources: HLC — New LGEEPA, second draft · Expansión — Comprehensive LGEEPA reform · Holland & Knight — New LGEEPA · Pérez-Llorca — MISSE rules · Greenberg Traurig — MISSE · DOF 16-Feb-2026 — MISSE Agreement · Energía Real — 2026 regulatory changes · LGEEPA Environmental Impact Regulation · SMAOT Guanajuato — Environmental Impact Authorisation

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Bajío Ventures is a Mexican energy infrastructure investment group based in Guanajuato. It works on three fronts: capital, a data platform on the region’s industrial base, and an industrial channel with Germany, with its own advisory presence in Berlin.