In 2019 the boom in renewable energy began in Colombia. It was not for more, in La Guajira the wind speed is twice the world average, while solar radiation is 60 percent higher.
This potential attracted multiple companies that bet on building solar and wind projects, not only in this department but in other regions of the country.
It even led to the first renewable energy auction being held and, for the first time, the participation of this type of project in renewable energy auctions. Reliability Charge so that they can provide electricity during critical moments, such as El Niño phenomena.
However, four years later, only small projects have been built because large ones are facing multiple difficulties that put companies’ investments at risk and the energy transition that the government of President Gustavo Petro seeks to accelerate.
A study by Ser Colombia indicates that 80 projects totaling 3,330 megawatts (MW) are currently being developed. Of this total, 1,280 MW must be connected to the national system this year and 2,050 MW in 2024. However, 65 percent register significant delays and challenges, mainly related to environmental procedures and prior consultations.
In this package of projects are the 14 solar and wind farms (all in La Guajira) that won in the auctions that were held in 2019 and that will probably be emitting energy for several months.
They ask Petro not to advance wind farms on the coasts of Alta Guajira
For the lawyer Santiago Soto, an expert in mining-energy issues, these delays put on the table the risk that in the near term Colombia will be forced to ration energy, so it is a pity to return to the era of blackouts, added to increases in energy prices if the thermal plants must increase their electricity generation.
“The discussion of these projects cannot be limited solely to a discussion of an environmental or social nature, there must be a balance between the social, environmental and economic aspects, because, otherwise, lThe projects that Colombia requires will become totally unfeasible and no company or private investor will bet on these”, he adds.
In the Reliability Charge auction, Enel Green Power was one of the big winners with five initiatives. All of them should be operating from December 2022, but the delays presented by their three wind farms led to the loss of the outstanding energy and the remuneration that they were going to receive for two of them.
Enel Green Power seeks to modify the date of entry into operation of Tumawind and Chemesky, without exceeding three months after the commissioning of the Collector line, which after five years was finally able to complete the stage of prior consultations with neighboring communities .
Meanwhile, the construction of Windpeshi was suspended indefinitely due to the impossibility of guaranteeing the construction rhythms of the project due to the numerous blockades that were registered and that led to the The works were stopped this year for 60 percent of the working days.
As for the solar parks, the company hopes to put La Loma into operation in the second half of 2023, while the El Paso expansion would be ready by the end of the year. The idea is to install 25,000 additional panels to generate energy that could supply the consumption of 118,000 homes.
Alpha and Beta are two other wind projects that want to be built in La Guajira and they do not escape the difficulties faced by the other initiatives. The turbines to be installed and which are as tall as the Colpatria Tower in Bogotá, have been stored in Puerto Brisa since December 2021.
EDP Renewables has not started to assemble them because it has not been able to obtain the environmental license it needs to build a transmission line that will link the parks to the national grid. Due to this situation, the schedule was delayed with difficulty and now the company says that it will put them to generate energy only until the end of 2024.
Celsia is another company that bet on the energy transition and inaugurated the first solar farm in Colombia in 2017: Celsia Solar Yumbo of 9.8 megawatts. But he wanted to go further and four years ago he participated in the renewable energy auction and won with two wind farms: Camelias and Acacia 2, also in La Guajira.
However, the company states that current conditions forced it to “make an in-depth review of wind projects that we have in Colombia, and especially in La Guajira”.
He says that he is having great challenges due to the time taken by the environmental and prior consultation procedures to achieve the construction of both the parks and the transmission lines, as well as social problems with the communities to advance and meet the schedules.
This is added to the effects of the increase in the dollar and the high rate of inflation on the profitability of the projects and some signs that the National Government has been giving regarding the regulatory stability that the private sector requires to continue promoting the development of this type of energy resolutely, as he had been doing.
Works for the Wind Farm in La Guajira.
AES Colombia’s Casa Eléctrica and Apotolorru wind farms also reported delays. They should have been operating since January of this year, but since they did not, the company is complying with its energy delivery obligations with other assets it has in the country so that the guarantees are not enforced.
This represented an additional cost to the company of more than 85,000 million pesos in 2022 and it is projected that it would cost about 291,000 million until 2025, since these two projects also depend on Colectora, whose start date was postponed to July 2025.
“It cannot be claimed that when the companies develop the wind farms, they are already responsible for all the functions that the State has to carry out. It is essential that the State participate and give enormous support to La Guajira to ensure that the relationship between communities, authorities, companies is a positive construction in the long term”, said Federico Echavarría, general manager of AES Colombia.
Finally, San Felipe, Campano and Cartago were the only solar parks that won in the October 2019 renewable energy auction and they are also behind schedule. They total about 300 megawatts and are run by Trina Solarthat it has not been able to obtain the environmental licenses to start the works.
For Alexandra Hernández, president of Ser Colombia, it is necessary to increase the expansion of the generating park because the consumption of electrical energy has been growing three times more than generation.
In addition, these projects – which are currently in suspense – are required to meet the needs of Colombians in the face of the El Niño phenomenon, which will be carried out in Colombia at the end of this year.
“Our estimates and internal balances indicate that the system would have a narrow gap between firm energy and demand for the next two years. All the projects are necessary, those of the auctions and all the others scheduled to come into operation”, adds the union leader.
The delay of these projects has also prevented Colombians from having cheaper rates, since solar and wind energy are cheaper compared to other technologies. In 2019 it was said that by these dates users will have a decrease in the price of energy of more than 35 percent.but this has not happened and there is still a long time to go before it becomes a reality.
“The wind farms, which totaled about 2,000 megawatts, should enter between 2021 and 2022but unfortunately the reality is that the construction has been absolutely minimal and the expectation that prices were going to drop is not happening,” said Federico Echavarría.
