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Mexican leaders say the U.S. will help secure funds for ambitious clean energy projects in Sonora

Mexico’s transition to renewable energy is focused on Sonora — where major lithium and solar plants are planned. And leaders now say they have secured funding for those projects.

Known as the Plan Sonora, Mexico’s clean energy future is focused on building the infrastructure to harness the northern state’s solar energy and abundant, though largely untapped, lithium deposits.

And President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says the United States will help fund those projects by granting Mexico cheap credit to build major solar plants, as well as transmission lines to carry that energy to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the agreement was reached with U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry to invest $48 billion in clean energy projects through 2030.

Lopez Obrador has said he will present the plan directly to President Biden during the North American Leaders' Summit next month.

Kendal Blust was a senior field correspondent at KJZZ from 2018 to 2023.