Colombia expects to exceed its 2022 renewable power target

According to the  Ministry of Mines and Energy of Colombia, the share of renewables in the country’s power mix will reach 12% in 2022, exceeding the 10% target set for 2022 in the National Development Plan 2018-2022. This share stood at less than 2% in 2018, but more than 2.5 GW of new wind and solar capacity are expected to be commissioned over the 2020-2022 period. In addition, electricity companies buying energy from wholesale markets will be obliged to buy 8% to 10% of their electricity purchases from non-hydropower renewable sources.

According to the renewable project registry of the Energy Mining Planning Unit (UPME) of Colombia, there were 554 non-conventional renewable energy projects registered and in force in Colombia at the end of 2019. Most of the projects were solar PV projects (403 projects totalling 11,162 MW, including the 700 MW Sebastosol project in the municipality of Cimitarra), followed by 113 unconventional hydropower projects below 50 MW totalling 1,331 MW, 27 wind projects totalling 3,457 MW and 11 biomass and biogas projects totalling 59 MW. Most of the wind projects are located in La Guajira, which posts very high wind resources (capacity factor of nearly 60%).

In 2019, Colombia awarded 14 wind and solar power projects totalling around 2,200 MW in long-term auctions. A new long-term auction might be launched during the second half of 2020 and the Energy and Gas Regulation Commission (CREG) will enable two mechanisms to standardise contracts between private sector actors in the first half of 2020, paving the way for more renewable power projects.