Due to the speed at which the wind blows and the high solar radiation, in La Guajira Power generation projects totaling more than 25,000 megawatts can be developed.
This capacity is higher than that currently installed throughout the country, which is 18,800 megawatts and includes thermal, hydraulic, solar and wind generationaccording to XM data.
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Santiago Saldarriaga/El Tiempo
With all the generation capacity of La Guajira, we can replace the consumption demand in
the country
This potential led to President Gustavo Petro to affirm that, “with all the generation capacity of La Guajira, we can replace the consumption demand in the country and we have plenty of energy”.
The current generation capacity allows supplying the 220 gigawatt hours that Colombians consume daily in the country. However, in the future it would not be feasible for all the energy to come from solar and wind farms.
This type of energy is intermittent; that is, the wind does not blow with the same speed all the time, nor is there sun 24 hours a day to produce wind or solar energy all day.
therefore always other sources of generation that offer reliability will be necessarysuch as thermal and even hydroelectric, although in periods of drought these also decrease their operation.
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You need to have a diversification of generation types to be resilient and reliable
“What thermal generation does is provide reliability that the system requires to continue delivering energy to users in the country”, highlights Alejandro Castañeda, executive director of Andeg.
In addition, he highlighted that there is currently no known electrical system worldwide that works 100 percent with conventional non-renewable energy. “You need to have a diversification of generation types to be resilient and reliable,” she added.
While the availability of a thermal plant, which in Colombia generates electricity with coal, natural gas or liquid fuelsis 90 percent, that of a wind farm is 25 percent.
This means that almost 23,000 megawatts of wind would be needed to replace the reliability that thermoelectric plants are currently delivering in the country. If it’s solar power, 40,000 megawatts would be needed, assuming there was sun 24 hours a day.
(Also read: Wind energy projects in La Guajira are unknown by the community)
Executive Director of Andeg, Alejandro Castañeda
But beyond reliability, there are other factors that must be taken into account. For example, a Fedesarrollo study indicates that To replace the entire thermal park that Colombia has (5,700 megawatts), investments of 168 billion pesos are neededthat in the end all Colombians will have to pay through the electricity tariff.
There must be sources that have a high concentration, such as hydraulics and thermal
Andeg’s executive director also highlighted that to replace the generation capacity of coal-fired power plants that operate in Colombia (1,700 megawatts) with solar energy, a land equivalent to half the extension of the department of Boyacá would be needed.
“There a conflict is created, either the land is for agriculture or for energy. That is why you must have sources that have a high concentration, such as hydraulic and thermalthat occupy small spaces, but produce a lot of energy”, said Alejandro Castañeda.
Another influencing aspect is the social conflict in the territories, which have prevented the development of large wind projects in the country. An example of this is that none of the projects that won in the 2019 auctions have been built in La Guajira.
Even a few weeks ago Enel Green Power had to indefinitely suspend the construction of its Windpeshi wind project because the constant blockades they faced were making this initiative unfeasible.
