Colombia announced that it managed to obtain 69 areas for the first round of wind energy in the Colombian sea, an initiative led by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the General Maritime Directorate (DIMAR) and the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH).
According to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the deadline established for the nomination of areas ended on January 31, a procedure in which companies had the possibility of proposing various polygons to be evaluated and verified by the corresponding entities, and in this way define which areas are suitable for the presentation of offers.
It is worth mentioning that at the end of October of this year it was learned that among those interested in these offshore projects were: BlueFloat Energy from Spain, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners from Denmark, Jan de Nul from Belgium, DEME from Belgium, Powerchina from China, China Three Gorges Corporation from China, Dyna Energy from the United Kingdom, Ecopetrol from Colombia and Celsia from Colombia.
However, not all of them were able to be approved, so the following remained: offshore wind farm Vientos Alisos, CI GMF II Cooperatief, Jan de Nul, Ecopetrol, PowerChina International Group Limited, CTG Colombia Holdings, Promesa de sociedad futuro OSW Colombia and Deme Celsia Offshore wind.
Wind energy
According to the information provided by the National Government, once the suitability of the proposals made by the interested companies is verified, the approved companies will be able to make offers on areas of their interest, with the option of awarding a maximum of two to each of them.
“From the Government of Change we work in an articulated manner to carry out the necessary analyses in order to verify that the nominated areas are suitable for bidding. This will allow those interested to define their strategies for the presentation of offers and guarantee that offshore wind energy materializes in the country and that the communities benefit from the entry of new energy sources, and thus continue to advance with the fair energy transition,” said Omar Andrés Camacho, Minister of Mines and Energy.
Under this premise, it is projected that, by the end of May of this year, the “Deposit of Offers” stage will be completed and the number of proposals competing for the areas of the process will be known.
It is worth noting that interested companies can submit offers on areas of up to 270 square kilometers, for projects with a minimum installed capacity of 200 megawatts (MW).
“The results of this first phase of the nomination stage of the process confirm the high level of interest generated by the renewable energy segment in Colombia, demonstrate the commitment of the private sector to the country’s energy transition and the development of clean and sustainable energy sources. Offshore wind energy represents a unique opportunity to diversify the country’s energy matrix, generate employment and mitigate the impact generated by climate change,” said Orlando Velandia Sepúlveda, president of the ANH.
