Wind power continues to grow

Europe, the region that most concentrates wind energy, projects a 66% increase in its installed wind farm capacity by 2023. Countries like Colombia are noted for their potential in the wind sector.

Wind energy facilities in Europe will grow 66% by 2023, according to the most recent report by the WindEurope organization, which analyzes the market for this type of wind power source.

The installed wind power capacity in the European continent can reach 28 gigawatts in 2023; It is currently 17 gigawatts.

The degree of expansion will depend on the ability of governments to encourage new investments. Offshore wind development in Germany, the largest market in Europe, has stagnated in recent months. This has given way to more development in land facilities in countries such as Spain, Sweden and Norway. Meanwhile, turbines located at sea will grow in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany.

The rapid increase in this industry is mainly due to the rapid decline in costs in these types of facilities, concludes the WindEurope document.

This is a conclusion that is true not only for Europe, but, in general, for the whole world. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, technical innovations, as well as the exploration of new forms of partnership for wind projects continue to lower industry costs, which has strongly boosted their expansion.

According to this organization, during 2018 the installed capacity of these energy sources grew by 51.3 gigawatts globally. “It represents a 4% drop compared to the results of the previous year, but it is still a good figure,” said Karin Ohlenforst, director of market intelligence for the Council. According to the projections of the organism, until 2023 55 gigawatts of more will be generated in terrestrial installations and in the sea.

According to the most recent report of the Council, Colombia has 18 gigawatts of capacity to generate energy through wind installations. According to figures from the Ministry of Mines and Energy, national energy demand will grow 52% between 2016 and 2030. The Government aims to install 1.5 gigawatts in renewable sources (including solar) by 2022.

The long-term renewable energy auction is scheduled for October 22 of this year. The main rules that the Government has established for this auction are that only new generation projects from non-conventional renewable energy sources (FNCER) may participate, whose date of entry into commercial operation is later than the auction award date and that have a capacity greater than or equal to five megawatts.

Wind turbines that are assigned in the auction must begin to fulfill their energy supply obligations as of January 1, 2022. In addition, the term of the long-term energy contracts that will be awarded in the auction will be 15 years.