Colombia to launch energy storage tender in 2021

Colombia has pushed back plans for the country's first power storage auction until next year, energy minister Diego Mesa said on Tuesday. 

Preliminary documents published by energy ministry planning unit UPME call for a supervisor and investor to design, build, operate and maintain the facility in the Caribbean coastal department of Atlántico.

"We have seen interest [from investors]," Mesa said during the Inter-American Dialogue's Latin America Energy Conference.

"We are incorporating comments and the final tender will come out next year."

In June, senior energy planning official Javier Andrés Martínez said a selection process for the grid-connected battery system was set to be launched this year following a public consultation. 

The initiative forms part of a broader energy ministry plan to develop several strategic storage hubs that would reinforce electricity supply in areas vulnerable to outages.  

It is understood the Atlántico project will boast 50MW of capacity. 

The length of the service agreement for the facility's operation is expected to be 10 to 15 years. Preliminary terms of reference, in Spanish, can be seen here. 

Meanwhile, Mesa said 14 wind and solar plants that were assigned contracts at an auction last October remain on track to begin operating in 2022. The projects will amass 2.5GW of installed capacity, raising the share of non-conventional renewables in Colombia's energy mix to 12% from 1% today, according to the government. 

Developers are also working on 16 transmission projects, many of which will connect wind and solar farms to the national grid, Mesa said. 

He added that plans are underway to publish a roadmap for the incorporation of geothermal energy and hydrogen into the country's power generation matrix.