The Colombian Ministry of Mining and Energy announced that a 290MW coal plant will be replaced with equipment to generate photovoltaic energy and with storage facilities. It will be the first to make a unilateral transition to renewables according to the government. They will search «make the most of the connection point«.
Located in the northern part of Colombia, in La Guajira, the Termoguajira plant is the first to make a unilateral transition to renewable production, according to the Colombian ministry. The plant uses mainly coal with natural gas as backup support.
The ministry’s announcement did not detail the expected capacity of the renewable power plants. Likewise, he advanced that “the best technical strategy is being established to balance capabilities and make the most of the connection point and set the ratio of panels and batteries. necessary for the transition.
“EThis is great news for the country but above all for the department of La Guajira since the just energy transition begins to materialize and this territory will be zero carbon”, said the Minister of Mines and Energy, Irene Vélez Torres. She added that from the ministry “we will be accompanying with technical advice and supporting the search for alternatives to finance this investment”.
To provide stability to the network, the installation of synchronous capacitors is contemplated, as they expressed. «The transformation of Termoguajira is the reference project for the consolidation of our Del Carbón al Futuro plan: TEJ (Fair Energy Transition) plan in coal-fired thermoelectric plants in Colombia”, they highlighted.
This government plan is under development. «Contemplate provide guidelines on labor and productive reconversion in the areas of influence of the thermoelectric plants, integrate new models of socio-territorial relationship in the projects, financing strategies for the transition, among others”, they detailed. The details of the plan will be published in September.
The country is looking to diversify its renewable energy portfolio dominated by hydropower. Solar energy only represents 1%. Although the country is not at the same level as its Latin American peers, it is considered one of the key markets in the region for the development of photovoltaic energy.