After almost two years of planning and one failed attempt, Colombia has successfully had its first renewables auction with long-term PPAs secured. Considering Colombia’s market with great potential, many international players, such as Acciona, Canadian Solar, Enel Green Power, EDFR, Solarpack and Trina Solar all showed interest in participating.
In this auction, seven electricity generators secured 15-year PPAs for 1298 MW of new wind and solar capacity spread over three solar and five onshore wind projects, which are planned to be commissioned by January 1, 2022.
Awarded projects in the auction
Trina Solar – San Felipe PV (90MW)
Trina Solar – Cartago PV (99MW)
Trina Solar – El Campano PV (N/A)
EDPR – Alpha wind farm (212MW)
EDPR – Beta Wind Farm (280MW)
JEMEIWAA KA'I – Casa Electrica wind farm (180MW)
Empresa de Energia del Pacifico (Celsia) – Eolico Camelia & Eolico Acacia 2 (N/A)
The average price of the contracts turned out to be COP 95.65/kWh (0.025 €/kWh), about COP 50/kWh (0.013 €/ kWh) cheaper that the usual price for bilateral supply contracts in Colombia. It also came in far lower than the maximum average tariffs allowed by the authority, namely COP 160/ kWh (0.04 €/kWh).
Out of 23 off-takers that bided in this renewable auction, 22 were picked to buy the generated power at prices far lower than the market rate
22 off-takers selected in the auction:
Electrificadora del Huila
Codensa
Ruitoque
Electrificadora del Caribe
Centrales Eléctricas de Narino
Electrificadora del Caqueta
Empresa de Energía del Putumayo
Empresas Municipales de Cali E.I.C.E.
Empresas Públicas de Medellin
Electrificadora de Santander
Empresa de Energía del Quindio
Empresa de Energía de Pereira
Centrales Eléctricas del Norte de Santander
Empresa de Energía de Boyaca
Electrificadora del Meta
Profesionales en Energía
Central Hidroeléctrica de Caldas
Celsia Tolima
Empresa de Energía del Pacífico
Compañía de Electricidad de Tulua
Ecopetrol Energía
Vatia
This auction represents a significant step in Colombia's plan to diversify its power supply. It aims to enable the country to increase its installed renewable energy capacity from around 50 MW currently to 2.2 GW in 2022, for Colombia to have an increasingly clean, modern, sustainable and environmentally responsible matrix.