Colombia enables private ports to import equipment for the construction of renewable energy projects

This MInenergia release was published using machine translation.

Bogotá DC, May 29, 2020. From now on, the country's private service ports may, exceptionally, provide services to third parties, not legally or economically linked, for the import of the equipment required in the construction of the projects. of non-conventional renewable energies in Colombia, especially in La Guajira, and thus move towards the goal of having a more resilient electrical matrix in the face of climate variability and more friendly to the environment.

With the Resolution issued by the Ministry of Transport, the private service ports must process the respective authorization before the National Infrastructure Agency (ANI), which will be granted as long as the services to be provided to third parties are related to compliance with the goals of the National Development Plan and obtain a favorable concept from CONPES. With the regulation of the procedure for the authorization of these ports, the possibility authorized by Law 2008 of 2019 is specified.

Currently, the construction of 14 non-conventional renewable energy projects is planned for the year 2022, of which 9 are wind farms and will be located in La Guajira. The remaining 5 will be solar parks located in the departments of Cesar, Córdoba, Valle del Cauca and Tolima. The new regulation opens a regulatory alternative that would allow the port infrastructure concessioned to be used for private service in order to receive the equipment that is required, such as wind turbines, due to its large dimensions, potentially expanding the port offer.

"With the possible empowerment of these ports, logistical barriers are overcome for the development of solar and wind energy projects, which will allow us to complement our electrical matrix, making it more resilient in low rainy seasons. In addition, they will attract investments of more than $ 7 billion of pesos and will generate around 6,000 jobs, promoting economic recovery and development opportunities in the country's regions, "said the Minister of Mines and Energy, María Fernanda Suárez .

"In the Resolution issued by the Ministry of Transport, all the documents and requirements that the private service ports must comply with in order to obtain the authorization of the National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) and the favorable concept of CONPES to mobilize cargo were established third parties. For the cargo that is mobilized, the ports must pay a consideration to the ANI, which will become part of the entity's budget, "said the Minister of Transport, Angela María Orozco .

To provide services to third parties, the port company must present to the Superintendency of Transport and the ANI the volumes of cargo mobilized, discriminating between its own cargo and that of third parties. In addition, the Transportation Superintendency must rule on the regulated port rates charged for services provided to third parties.

Likewise, the private service port must justify and demonstrate in its request for authorization that it provides better technical conditions for location, logistics and access to the transport infrastructure necessary to move the cargo to its final destination, with respect to the service ports. public that are in the port area available to mobilize the cargo of third parties in question.

The 14 unconventional renewable energy projects to be built in the country were left with power generation assignments in the Charge for Reliability auctions and long-term contracts that were carried out in 2019. Thanks to these mechanisms, Colombia will go from having less than 50 megawatts of installed capacity to more than 2,500 megawatts in solar and wind energy , which will represent about 12% of the electrical matrix in 2022.

The benefits of the regulation of the procedure for the authorization of private ports are:

• Increases the possibilities that developers have for the transport of their equipment, choosing the port that offers the best technical conditions for location, logistics and access to the transport infrastructure necessary to move cargo to its final destination.

• It favors the delivery times of the equipment manufacturers and therefore compliance on the dates of commissioning.

• It allows to better coordinate the landing dates and needs of all the projects that are required in the logistical peaks in which the developers are simultaneously carrying out their operations.