Colombia

The Colombian authorities assigned 7.49 GW of renewable energy projects in the nation’s latest procurement exercise.

pv magazine publisher, Eckhart Gouras, interviewed Diego Mesa, the Colombian Minister of Mines and Energy at the BNEF Summit in New York. Mesa recounted the history of solar PV adoption in his country and provided details on the most recent developments, including the construction of Colombia’s largest solar park by Italian group Enel and the first large scale battery project by Canadian Solar.

Empresas Públicas de Medellín is seeking engineering, procurement, and construction specialists to work on an 83MW solar plant in Colombia. The project secured a 15-year power purchase agreement in the nation’s latest auction and is scheduled to go online by Jan. 1, 2023.

Among the selected developers were EDF, Canadian Solar, Solarpack, Enel and Celsia. The final average price for the PV technology was significantly higher than that of the previous procurement exercise.

The 61 MW solar facility is owned by Colombian oil company Ecopetrol.

Projects not exceeding 5 MW in size will be entitled to participate in the procurement exercise. Selected developers will be granted a 15-year PPA and will have to start commercial operation on January 1, 2023.

Project selected in the auctions will be granted a 15-year PPA and will have to begin delivering power in December 2022.

The obligation will be applied annually from 2022. Colombian power utilities will have to procure the clean energy concerned under long-term contracts lasting at least a decade.

Spanish developer Grenergy has secured a PPA from Colombian energy company Celsia for the supply of 120 GWh per year. The electricity will be provided by a solar park that will begin commercial operations in 2022.

In addition to the auction, scheduled for the first quarter of 2021, the Latin American country is also defining a green hydrogen roadmap in collaboration with Chile.