Renewables to make up most of Colombia's new power capacity in 2022

Colombia expects to incorporate over 3,000 MW of new power generation capacity in 2022, with renewables representing over half of that, national grid operator XM Compania de Expertos en Mercados said this week.

XM based its estimates on information about projects that secured connection approval by the Mining and Energy Planning Unit (UPME) with a commissioning date set for 2022. According to the grid operator, 50% of new plants due this year are solar farms, followed by four hydroelectric plants, among them the mammoth Ituango dam project, accounting for some 22% of the new capacity. Thermal power plants and wind farms will represent 19% and 9% of the 2022 capacity, respectively, XM said.

During the first quarter of 2022, only two non-conventional renewable energy projects were added to Colombia’s energy mix -- the 9.9-MW Delphi Helios 1 solar farm and the 0.945-MW Las Violetas small hydroelectric station. The 20-MW Guajira I wind farm, which was inaugurated in January this year, does not appear to be exporting power yet and is not mentioned in XM’s update on currently connected power plants.

This year’s first trimester also saw the start of operation of new transmission infrastructure as one national transmission system project and nine regional projects came online, XM added.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!