Enel Colombia starts commercial operation of 99.5-MW solar farm

Latin American utility Enel Colombia has initiated commercial operation of its El Paso solar farm in the Colombian department of Cesar, after expanding the plant by 13.3 MWdc and passing all required testing.

The plant now boasts a total installed capacity of 99.5 MWdc, made up of an 86.2-MWdc section that was built in 2018 and the expansion added in 2023, Enel Colombia said on Tuesday.

The company was awarded firm energy obligations in Colombia’s 2019 reliability charge auction to deliver 67.92 MW of net effective capacity from El Paso to the country's electricity system.

Equipped with 274,320 modules installed across a 240-hectare site in El Paso municipality, the solar farm can generate around 203.5 GWh of electricity annually. It has already produced more than 724 GWh from the time the first section was energised, Enel Colombia said.

Alongside the recently inaugurated La Loma solar farm, the El Paso facility solidifies Cesar as one of Colombia's leading departments in solar power generation, especially important in the face of challenges like low reservoir levels caused by the El Nino phenomenon, the utility added.

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