Solar wins over 4.4 GW in Colombia's reliability charge auction

Colombia’s reliability charge auction last week awarded firm energy obligations (OEFs) to 4,441 MW of new solar power and 48 MW of thermal power plants, as well as existing hydro and thermal, enabling the country to diversify its hydro-dominated energy mix in the coming years.

The auction’s closing price was USD 18.2 (EUR 16.90) per MWh, Colombian grid operator and the auction administrator XM announced on Friday.

The OEFs were assigned to a total of 80 power plants -- 27 new plants, six plants under construction and 47 existing plants -- all of which are due to provide firm energy and continuous service to the system between December 1, 2027 and November 30, 2028.

These obligations amount to the delivery of 156.2 GWh per day, according to XM.

The grid manager’s breakdown reveals that 48 MW of new thermal correspond to an 18-MW repowering of a gas plant, a 25-MW biomass-fired power plant and a 5-MW expansion of a smaller biogas plant.

Other figures show that, of the 33 new and under construction plants, three are thermal and 30 are solar. Of the 47 existing plants, 24 are hydro and 23 are thermal.

A total of 88 generation sources participated in the bidding.

At present, Colombia’s national grid has 19,903 MW of net installed capacity, with 66% of that provided by hydro, 31% by thermal and only 3% from solar and wind. Commitments from this auction and the previous programmes will enable Colombia to have firm energy generation stations totalling 26,184 MW in 2027, with 50% of the capacity coming from hydro, 24% from thermal and 26% from solar and wind farms, XM said.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.929)

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