A few weeks ago, the mayor of Medellín, Daniel Quintero, and Public Companies of Medellín (EPM) They announced in style that they would hand over to the communities of La Guajira the operation of their only wind farm in Colombia.
However, this delivery would not be as easy or as fast as initially thought, since Jepirachi Park has several drawbacks for which, even, it had been considered that it was necessary to disassemble it at the end of this year.
(Also read: Wayuu Communities will now own an EPM wind farm in La Guajira)
Faced with this possibility, since last April EPM expressed interest and the possibility that the Jepirachi wind farm continue its operation under a community participation scheme.
Therefore, the Fenoge Steering Committee thought evaluate the convenience and relevance of the proposal presentedfor which he asked the company for more details on the technical, financial, regulatory, environmental and social aspects of the current state of the park.
Likewise, the entity requested EPM to present a possible scenario with the repowering of the wind farm. This communication was sent to the company last June.
(Also read: Enel Colombia indefinitely suspends the construction of a wind farm in La Guajira)
The Jepírachi Wind Farm has 15 wind turbines.
Mauricio Duenas Castañeda. EFE
The generation capacity of the park
It’s not working 100 percent.
This decision is based on the interest of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, in promote the socioeconomic development of the Wayuu communities within the framework of the energy transition, involving communities in associative schemes that allow generating income and development, always guaranteeing the technical and financial feasibility of any initiative.
Currently, Fenoge and the Ministry of Mines and Energy are reviewing and evaluating in detail the response issued by EPM in July. For this, technical roundtables have been started in which it has been identified that The generation capacity of the park is not 100 percent operational.
This is due to the loss of operation of two wind turbines, which means that currently the installed power in operation is 16.9 of 19.5 megawatts. In case of deciding to extend the useful life of the park, EPM must remedy this situation, for which an investment plan was requested.
(Also read: Can all energy consumption be met only with wind and solar farms?)
make decisions with
technical and financial certainty about the next of
park operation
Also, the Fenoge is in review of the cash flow of the project, verifying the investments in repowering, operation, administration and maintenance, as well as those derived from compliance with the Environmental Management Plan; in this way, it is guaranteed that the operation of said park is profitable.
Once the evaluation phase of the information provided by EPM is finished, field verification will continue, which will allow decisions to be made with technical and financial certainty about the next operation of the park.
Fenoge assures that, to date The technical, financial, social and environmental feasibility of continuing to operate the wind farm has not been defined.
Therefore, once its evaluation is completed, and it is clear about the possible profits that the park would generate if it continues with its operation, a consultation phase will begin with the communities potential beneficiaries of the project, in order to know their interest in participating in the operation of the park.