Renewable energy in Colombia
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Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
has 28.1 Megawatt installed capacity of
renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
(excluding large
hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Pot ...
), consisting mainly of
wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...
. This supplies 1% of the country's needs. The country has significant wind and solar resources that remain largely unexploited. According to a study by the World Bank’s
Energy Sector Management Assistance Program Interact with our program: https://www.esmap.org/node/70853 ESMAP was established in 1983 in response to the global energy crisis An energy crisis or energy shortage is any significant bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an econo ...
(ESMAP), exploitation of the country’s significant wind potential alone could cover more than the country’s current total energy needs.*ESMAP, 2007. ''Review of Policy Framework for Increased Reliance on Renewable Energy in Colombia. '' In press


Investment costs

Investment costs for renewable energy technologies in Colombia were estimated in 2005 as follows:


Hydropower

With 70 percent of the country’s power generation, hydropower is a very important national energy source. The total large hydropower potential for Colombia is estimated at 93GW, with an additional 25GW of small hydropower (<20MW)


Wind

The wind regime in Colombia is among the best in South America. Offshore regions of the northern part of Colombia, such as in the Guajira Department, have been classified with class 7 winds (over 10 meters per second (m/s)). The only other region in Latin America with such high
wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...
classification is the Patagonia region of Chile and Argentina. Colombia has an estimated theoretical wind power potential of 21 GW just in the Guajira Department—enough to generate sufficient power to meet the national demand almost twice over. However, the country only has an installed capacity of 19.5 MW of wind energy, tapping only 0.4% of its theoretical wind potential. This capacity is concentrated in a single project, the Jepírachi Wind Project, developed by Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) under a
Carbon Finance Carbon finance is a branch of environmental finance that covers financial tools such as carbon emission trading to reduce the impact of greenhouse gases (GHG) on the environment by giving carbon emissions a price. Financial risks and opportunities ...
mechanism arranged by the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
. There are several projects under consideration, including a 200 MW project in Ipapure.See also: Wind and Wind Energy Atlas of Colombia 2006 (in Spanish) a
UPME
then click on "Publicaciones, then on "Recientes". Accessed on September 8, 2007.
In the first renewable energy auction for the country, over 1 GW of wind power was awarded in 2019 for a 15-year power purchase agreement from 2022.


Solar

Colombia has significant
solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic e ...
resources because of its location in the equatorial zone, but the country sits in a complex region of the Andes where climatic conditions vary. The daily average radiation is 4.5 kWh/m2, and the area with the best solar resource is the
Guajira Peninsula The Guajira Peninsula ( es, Península de La Guajira, links=no, also spelled ''Goajira'', mainly in colonial period texts, guc, Hikükariby) is a peninsula in northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela in the Caribbean. It is the northernm ...
, with 6 kWh/m2 of radiation. Of the 6 MW of solar power installed in Colombia (equivalent to about 78,000 average-size solar panels), 57 percent is distributed in rural applications and 43 percent in communication towers and road signaling. Solar systems can be very suitable for applications in rural areas, where energy demands are dispersed and modest and grid connection is often more costly (UPME 2005).


Geothermal

The former Colombian Institute of Electrical Energy, today IPSE, and the Latin American Energy Organization have identified three areas with
geothermal power Geothermal power is electrical power generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 2 ...
potential: * Azufral, in Nariño Department, where the Azufral Volcano is located; * Cerro Negro-Tufiño, also in Nariño Department, near the Chiles Volcano; and *
Paipa Paipa is a town and municipality in the Tundama Province, a part of the Colombian department of Boyacá. Paipa borders Duitama, Firavitoba, Tibasosa, Sotaquirá and Tuta.Boyacá Department Boyacá () is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia, and the remnant of Boyacá State, one of the original nine states of the "United States of Colombia". Boyacá is centrally located within Colombia, almost entirely within the moun ...
. The potential of the main sources of geothermal power in Colombia is summarized below:


Biomass

Colombia has a great biomass power potential from agricultural residues (banana, coffee pulp, and animal waste). Its annual biomass power potential is estimated to be over 16 GWh, which is still less than 0.1% of current electricity production. The potential is distributed as follows: * 11,828 MWh/yr from agriculture residues * 2,640 MWh/yr from bioethanol * 698 MWh/yr from natural forest residues * 658 MWh/yr from biodiesel * 442 MWh/yr from planted forest residues The region of Urabá in the north of the Department of Antioquia has approximately 19,000 hectares of banana plantations, producing more than 1 million tons annually. It has also been estimated that approximately 85,000 TOE/yr could be produced from the 190 million m3/yr of biogas generated from coffee plantations, equivalent to 995,000 MWh. In addition, the landfills in the four main cities in Colombia (Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, and Barranquilla) are estimated to have the potential to provide for an installed capacity of 47 MW (0.3% of current installed capacity).


References


External links


Biotec International
{{Renewable energy by country