The details behind Colombia's 18GW power generation pipeline

Non-conventional renewable sources account for more than three quarters of Colombia's power generation project pipeline, according to energy ministry data. 

Of the 461 projects registered with the ministry's SIEL information system, 324 are solar, 19 wind and four biomass. There are 104 hydropower projects and 10 proposed thermal plants.

Some 296 projects are undergoing preliminary technical analysis, while 157 are in the feasibility phase and eight in the final detailed engineering stage.

Overall capacity of the projects is 17.74GW, of which 9.16GW correspond to solar, 4.29GW hydropower, 2.56GW wind, 1.70GW thermopower and 26MW biomass. 

La Guajira is the department with the biggest share of capacity with 3.83GW, followed by Magdalena (1.83GW), Santander (1.36GW) Cesar (1.31GW) and Caldas (1.20GW). 

Source: UPME

The developer with the biggest project portfolio is Nodo Energético del Norte, with 1.14GW, followed by GDEL (853MW), Universal Stream (704MW), Sebastosol (700MW), Colombia Solar Corporación Internacional (654MW), Gensa (646MW) and Jemeiwaa Kai (549MW). 

Installation costs range from US$1,500/kW to US$2,750/kW for hydropower and US$700/kW to US$2,450kW for thermal plants. No values were given for solar, wind or biomass. 

Peak generation costs are estimated at US$27/MWh for biomass, US$18/MWh for hydropower, US$15/MWh for solar, US$11.5/MWh for thermal and US$11/MWh for wind.

Source: BNamericas