The Colombian ministry of mining and energy has unveiled that a 290MW coal plant will decarbonise its activity and replace coal production with solar PV generation and energy storage.
Located in the northern part of Colombia – in La Guajira – the Termoguajira plant is the first one to unilaterally transition towards renewable production, according to the Colombian ministry. The plant uses primarily coal with natural gas used as a backup support.
The planned capacity for solar PV and battery storage was not disclosed in the announcement, however the Ministry mentioned that: “The best technical strategy to balance the capacities was being established to make the most of the connection point and establish the proportion of panels and batteries necessary for the transition.”
A more specific project outline for the project would start in September and be published for public comment in November 2023.
More and more solar projects are being developed in Colombia. The country is looking to diversify its renewables portfolio, of which solar PV only represented 1%, having mostly been powered by hydropower. Even though the country is not as the same level as Brazil and Chile, it remains one of the key markets in Latin America for solar PV, as covered by PV Tech Premium on a deep dive.
Source : PV Tech
