After auction, photovoltaic solar energy participation goes from 3% to 26% in Colombia

99% of the energy allocated was solar, and 1% for thermal plants, including biomass, a fact that occurs for the first time in the history of the country.
Last Friday, the Reliability Charge Auction for the National Interconnected System, SIN, concluded, in which historic results were achieved that contribute to the energy transition.

In fact, one of the most striking data was the incorporation of new solar plants, since, according to the Minister of Mines and Energy, Andrés Camacho, for the first time in history, the energy assigned was 99% solar, which corresponds to 4.4 GW of new solar plants and only 1% was for thermal plants, including biomass.
This represents an advance in terms of the participation of solar energy within the energy matrix, since the composition of the matrix goes from 66% hydraulic, 31% thermal and 3% solar-wind plants, to a matrix with 50 % hydraulic, 24% thermal and 26% solar-wind plants.

According to Camacho, “we went from a 3% share of non-conventional energy sources to 26%. With the entry of these projects, new agents enter and competition in the energy market is strengthened.”

Given this, analysts have looked favorably on what could happen in the coming years with the results of the auction.
In principle, one of the benefits of what was achieved last week is that “an important part of the firm energy required by the country for 2027 and 2028 is covered, however, “it will be necessary to look for other alternatives that allow the entirety to be covered. of the requirements in this regard, mainly through thermal generation with gas,” explained Julio César Vera, president of Xua Energy.

Another benefit is that “there will be an offer of energy generation contracts with better prices for photovoltaic solar energy projects,” Vera added.

Added to this is that “the energy transition process that the country wants to deepen through the use of non-conventional sources of energy continues, and in this case especially, with photovoltaic solar energy,” said Vera.
Now, although it has several benefits, there is some fear with the entry time that was estimated for these projects. “The auction was partially successful for the demand in terms of increased renewable capacity. However, it has the uncertainty of safe entry dates, and the allocation of more firm, efficient backup and reliability capacity would be missing,” said Sandra Fonseca, director of Asoenergía.

In line with this, Vera mentioned that “the main risk is that photovoltaic solar energy projects fail to arrive on schedule and generate a greater deficit.”