The American country is reforcing its solar future with the installation of close to 5 GW of photovoltaic electricity
Colombia, one of the most potential solar energy producers of South América and one of the countries that haven´t explored at all its green energy possibilities with the sun, is reforcing its solar future after reaching 9.47GW of solar energy with new proyects, and planned close to 5 GW more of this energy. This announce, made by the UPME (the national energy and minning manager) comes after three positive years in the solar energy in Colombia with the adding of 389 MW during 2018; 7.85 GW during 2019 and 1.2 GW during the first quarter of the current year.
The analysis indicates solar developers formally launched 120 ventures in 2018, coupled with 210 in 2019 and 11 in Q1 2020. The total of 341 means nearly 70% of all energy projects currently recorded by UPME are solar related, far above hydro (24.7%), wind (3.82%) and thermal power (2.2%).
In capacity terms, Colombian solar’s current pipeline of 9.47GW is more than half the 18.3GW across all energy sources, including hydro (4.4GW), wind (2.5GW) and thermal power (1.9GW). At 5.8GW, over 60% of all solar capacity under planning lies in five departments in the north and northeast.
Taking a look at the UPME´s new figures, the new solar projects that could be a reallity in short term period in Colombia would add 5.32GW of energy to the grid; more than half the current solar capacity of 9.47 GW.
