Colombia advances offshore wind auction plans

Colombian hydrocarbons agency ANH has been tasked with coordinating Latin America’s first auction for offshore wind projects alongside maritime authority Dimar. 

ANH will be responsible for setting requirements for bidders, evaluating offers and selecting the winners, officials said. Dimar, meanwhile, will issue temporary occupation permits for the areas.

"ANH was chosen as the administrator due to its experience overseeing the country's hydrocarbon resources for the past 20 years and leading competitive processes for the sector, including those for offshore projects,” according to a mines and energy ministry statement. 

It added that bidding documents for the auction would be made available next month.

The auction will offer power purchase agreements for projects with at least 200MW of capacity in Caribbean waters off the departments of Atlántico and Bolívar. 

Colombia has emerged as one of Latin America's fastest-growing offshore wind markets following the publication of a long-term sector blueprint in May last year.

The 217-page roadmap, authored by London-based firm Renewables Consulting Group in partnership with the World Bank and the UK government, says Colombia has the potential for 50GW of offshore wind capacity in the western Atlantic basin.

The document forecasts up to 1GW of installed marine wind capacity by 2030, 3GW by 2040 and 9GW by 2050.