Workers, steel reinforcement, turbine housings and construction machinery at the Chicoasén II hydroelectric project.

Sheinbaum Says Chicoasén II Will Have the World’s Largest Bulb Turbines Without Displacing Communities

ByLa Jornada Editorial Staff

This article by La Jornada Editorial Staff originally appeared in the November 11, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

In a format she called Science in a Minute in the Field, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo explained on her social media this Wednesday how the bulb turbines that the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) is installing at the Chicoasén II hydroelectric plant in Chiapas work, a technology that harnesses water without the need for a large dam.

In videos released this Wednesday and recorded during the president’s tour of the state last weekend, a CFE specialist explained from the intake structure that the plant will have three bulb units of 80 megawatts each, “the largest in the world.”

He explained that the water flows along the outside to the runner blades, whose rotation drives the generator’s rotor. Once in operation, the structure will be flooded and access will be through hatches to maintain the turbogenerator. “And that is how a bulb turbine works,” the president concluded.

In another video, posted on X, Sheinbaum described the project as “a great technological innovation.”

“We are building a hydroelectric plant that sits in the riverbed, that does not require a large dam or the displacement of communities.”

President Claudia Sheinbaum

Chicoasén II will have a capacity of 240 megawatts and will reuse water that has already passed through turbines. It is located downstream from the Manuel Moreno Torres plant, known as Chicoasén, on the Grijalva River. According to the CFE, more than 1,500 workers are working on the project, and the program includes roads, educational infrastructure and electrification. The company expects the plant to reach full capacity by late 2028.

“Recovering national sovereignty, long live the women and men who work at the CFE,” the president concluded.