The Guayepo I & II complex will be the largest solar farm in Colombia. Earlier this title belonged to the La Loma project (187 MW) being implemented in the Cesar department, northern Colombia. Commissioning of two SPPs will increase the role of solar power plants in the Colombian power industry where photovoltaic panels are the third largest source of clean energy. According to Ember research centre, solar power plants accounted for only 0.3% of power generation in Colombia in 2020, while hydropower plants (HPP) – 65.7%, and bioenergy plants and wind turbines – 1.6% and 0.1%, respectively (with the share of fossil sources – 32.3%).
The dominance of the renewable energy sources (RES) in generation mix helps minimise the carbon footprint: in Brazil, power industry CO2 emissions were 437 million tons in 2021, and in Argentina – 182 million tons, but in Colombia – 87 million tons, according to the BP World Energy Review. At the same time, Colombia is the world’s fifth thermal coal exporter. According to the International Energy Agency, its share in global exports of this raw material (5.4%) in 2021 was second only to Indonesia (41.4%), Australia (19.7 %), Russia (17.8%) and South Africa (5.5%). Colombia also remains a major regional producer of hydrocarbons, accounting for 13% and 8% of South American oil and gas production in 2021, respectively.
The country plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and reduce greenhouse emissions by 51% by 2030. A step in this direction was last year’s commissioning of 166 MW of renewable energy capacity provided by solar panels (98 MW) and sugar cane waste power plants (68 MW).