New ways towards the energy transition

Colombia is committed to advance in the energy transition, and, therefore, the Ministry of Mines and Energy, authorized the completion of eight new energy transmission projects, some of which will use non-conventional renewable energy resources (NCRER). These seek to provide a greater reliability in the supply of electric power services, making it more efficient, sustainable and friendly to the planet.

These new transmission projects, part of the “Generation and Transmission Reference Expansion Plan”, are focused on promoting and kick starting an economic and energy growth, and consist of:

• Two new electric substations to be assembled, for the connectivity of new electric power generation plants, in the Huila and Valle del Cauca geographical departments in Colombia;  
• New transformers to be installed in the Sogamoso (Santander department in Colombia) and Primavera (Antioquia department in Colombia) substations to increase their capacity;
• Works to be carried out in the San Marcos Substation, (Valle del Cauca department in Colombia) to improve realiability;
• FACTS (Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems) devices, to be installed, in substations in Guajira, Cesar, Magdalena, and Atlantico departments in Colombia, to control energy transfer through the transmission lines and redirect it thereof, to avoid overloads, and;
• Capacity expansion of the Nueva Esperanza substation, (Cundinamarca department in Colombia), to allow the connection of new users in the area.

The foregoing works should start operations between 2022 and 2026, and will be carried out through a public tender process, or, through expansions to the National Transmission System (SNT) under the Mining Energy Planning Unit’s (UPME) guidance. Such works could impact energy prices lowering these, given that there would be a greater supply, reduce the greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, generate employment, with the possibility of boosting developing communities.

In addition, Colombia issued the strategy “Colombia carbon neutrality” which promotes organizations that seek to reduce (GHG) emissions efforts to stop climate change progress, granting benefits to these entities such as “an alliance with the media for the business positioning of its actions, and the technical assistance at no cost to identify GHG emission mitigation plans”.

For those who wish to undertake the new challenge of the economic transition in Colombia, and to learn about the projects, these are detailed in Resolution 40279 dated August 26, 2021, issued by the Ministry of Mines and Energy.