Renewables auction allocated 1,186 megawatts of wind power and solar energy in Colombia

Auction will achieve the incorporation of 2,250 MW of installed capacity for the country, produced with solar and wind energy essentially, which corresponds to approximately 12% of current power generation capacity

In the first auction of unconventional renewable energy sources in the country, generation responsibilities were assigned to 8 projects awarded with a total effective capacity of 1,298 megawatts of installed capacity, 5 of them wind power and 3 solar. At the close of the process, 7 generating companies and 22 trading companies were assigned. The total energy allocated was 10,186 MWh-day.

The Auction of Long Term Energy Contracts had, in total, the participation of 20 generators and 23 qualified marketers, that is, those that met all the prequalification requirements established.

“The results of the auction mark an energy milestone for the country. This is the beginning of a revolution because it allows us to diversify our electricity matrix, which is very clean because 70% comes from water sources but at the same time makes us vulnerable to climatic variability and moments of scarcity such as the El Niño phenomenon. Now we can combine these sources of generation and complement them with energy from the sun and wind. In this way, we will have an increasingly clean, resilient and environmentally responsible matrix, ”said Energy Minister María Fernanda Suárez.

The auction closed with a weighted average allocation price of $ 95.65 kilowatt hour, about $ 50 pesos below the current average cost of generation in bilateral contracts. In the development of the adjudication process, the Energy and Gas Regulation Commission established the price of $ 200 / kWh as the maximum individual limit and the price of $ 160 / kWh as the maximum average limit.

The target demand determined by the Ministry of Mines and Energy was 12,050.5 MWh-day.

Once the awarding process has been completed, the Energy Mining Planning Unit (Upme) verified that there is a positive difference between the target demand and the amount of assigned energy of 1,864.5 MWh-day, and a maximum sale offer price of $ 110 / kWh Therefore, the complementary mechanism is activated whose adjudication process will be carried out on October 23, 2019, also using the maximum ceilings established by the Creg.

Regarding the results of the auction, the director of the Association of Renewable Energies (SER) Colombia, Germán Corredor, assured that it will allow the country to incorporate projects with Non-Conventional Renewable Energy Sources into the power generation matrix.

He stressed that the auction will achieve the incorporation of 2,250 MW of installed capacity for the country, produced with solar and wind energy essentially, which corresponds to approximately 12% of current electricity generation capacity, placing Colombia as one of the countries with the highest generation With clean energy worldwide.

“We are very satisfied because the auction has been successful. This is a great step for the country that puts us at the forefront of electricity generation. Renewable energies are essential today not only to complement the energy matrix, especially during seasons such as the phenomenon of the child, but will allow Colombia to advance its carbon footprint reduction commitments and protect the environment, ”said the executive.