Latin America Advisor

Energy Advisor

A Publication of The Dialogue

Is Colombia on Track to Make the Shift to Renewables?

Colombia is investing heavily in renewable sources of energy, in line with its 2021 Energy Transition Law. An offshore wind farm in Britain is pictured. // File Photo: Colombian Government. Colombia is investing heavily in renewable sources of energy, in line with its 2021 Energy Transition Law. An offshore wind farm in Britain is pictured. // File Photo: Colombian Government.

Colombia recently struck a deal with a Danish company to build an offshore wind farm in the Caribbean Sea, near the coastal city of Barranquilla. The offshore wind turbine facility—a first for Colombia—will generate 350 megawatts of electricity and could draw as much as $1 billion in investments, according to the energy ministry. What does the project, along with the solar farms popping up around the country, mean for Colombia’s transition to renewable energy? How does Colombia’s renewable energy strategy compare to other countries in the region, and how might the rise of renewables affect its oil and gas sector? Are there other forms of nonconventional sources of energy—such as green hydrogen, biomass and ocean wave energy—that Colombia should be prioritizing?

Diego Mesa, Colombia’s minister of mines and energy: “Colombia has advanced by leaps and bounds in our energy transition on a path to net zero. We have already multiplied by almost 30 times the 28 megawatts of nonconventional renewable capacity that came online in 2018. With new investments and agreements, Colombia will see an additional 2,876 megawatts generated from renewable energy come into operation in the coming months. We recently put into operation the first two green hydrogen pilot projects in the country, including the first green hydrogen project injected into the gas distribution network in Latin America. Natural gas is a transitional energy, necessary to decarbonize the transport industry and to give reliability to the electricity supply. Colombia stands out for its rapid progress in renewables. In our drive to build up diverse nonconventional renewable sources, we have achieved very competitive…”

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About the Energy Advisor

A sister publication of the Inter-American Dialogue’s daily Latin America Advisor, the weekly Energy Advisor captures fresh analysis from business leaders and government officials on the most important developments in oil and gas, biofuels, the power sector, renewables, new technologies, and the policy debates shaping the future of energy in the Western Hemisphere and beyond. To subscribe or for more information, contact Erik Brand, publisher of the Advisor, at ebrand@thedialogue.org.


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Erik Brand

Publisher
P. 202.463.2932
E. ebrand@thedialogue.org

Gene Kuleta

Editor
P. 202.463.2920
E. gkuleta@thedialogue.org

Leticia Chacón

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Mark Kennedy

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