Miguel Lotero takes office as Colombia's new deputy energy minister

Statement from the Ministry of Mines and Energy (translated from Spanish by an automated system)

Minenergy. Bogotá DC July 21, 2020. Before the Minister of Mines and Energy, Diego Mesa, Miguel Lotero Robledo took office as the new Vice Minister of Energy, with the commitment to continue the policies of the National Government in the energy sector.

For the Vice Minister of Energy, his main challenge will be that the obligations that various companies acquired in the Charge for Reliability auctions and long-term contracts, carried out in 2019, become concrete works. There are 14 non-conventional renewable energy projects that will come into operation in 2022, of which 9 will be wind farms and will be located in La Guajira, and the remaining 5 will be solar parks located in Cesar, Córdoba, Valle del Cauca and Tolima.

"These projects will represent investments that exceed $ 7 billion and will generate more than 6,000 jobs. In addition, they will allow Colombia to 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 the year 2022 ", assured the Vice Minister of Energy, Miguel Lotero.

Other priorities of the Vice Minister of Energy will be to continue seeking the universalization of the electric energy service and to build and initiate the implementation of the roadmap for the modernization and transformation of the electricity sector for the next 25 years, based on the recommendations of the Energy Transformation Mission.

In hydrocarbons, the main challenges for Vice Minister Miguel Lotero will be to expand the coverage of natural gas service, replace some energy sources with more environmentally friendly ones, generate the reliability of permanent energy supply and reactivate the sector with the signing of new contracts. .

After 5 years, in 2019 Colombia again carried out allocation rounds that allowed the signing of 26 new E&P contracts, with investments of close to US $ 940 million, and in the second half of 2020 the third cycle of the Permanent Allocation Process will take place of Areas that will allow the execution of new contracts and investments.

Additionally, the Vice Minister of Energy will work to ensure the start of exploratory campaigns for new offshore projects, which have investment commitments of $ 7 billion and the potential to turn the Caribbean region into a great hub of services and oil goods.

Profile of the Vice Minister of Energy, Miguel Lotero

The Vice Minister of Energy, Miguel Lotero Robledo, is a lawyer from EAFIT University; He has a specialization in Administrative Law and a Master's in Public Management, both from the Universidad de Los Andes.

He is an expert in the design and formulation of public policies for the mining-energy sector. He has more than 10 years of experience exercising leadership positions and participating in all sectors of home public services. He has practiced law as an advisor, consultant and project structuring, as well as occupying management and leadership positions in the energy sector.

Miguel Lotero Robledo joined the National Government in 2018 as an advisor to the then Vice Minister of Energy, Diego Mesa Puyo, and to the former Minister of Mines and Energy, María Fernanda Suárez, where he led the structuring of the auction of renewable energy sources, fundamental for the process of energy transition and the diversification of the matrix initiated by the Government of President Iván Duque.

During his period as an advisor to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, he also participated in other important initiatives in the sector, such as the creation of the Energy Transformation Mission, which will define the roadmap of the guidelines that will give the energy sector a turn to country in the coming years.

He was a member of the Boards of Directors of Gestión Energética SAESP (GENSA) and of the Electrificadora del Meta SAESP (EMSA), serving as Chairman of both Boards of Directors for several periods.

In addition, he served as Vice Minister of Energy in charge on several occasions, performing the functions of that position, as well as representing the Ministry of Mines and Energy on the Board of Directors of the Fund for Non-conventional Energies and Efficient Energy Management (FENOGE) and in the Energy and Gas Regulation Commission (CREG).

Before joining the Government, the Vice Minister of Energy, Miguel Lotero, worked as an associate and partner of recognized national law firms, leading the practices of domiciliary public services, infrastructure and public law, where his participation in structuring public associations stands out. private in the transport sector and regulatory advisory services to domiciliary public utility companies for drinking water, energy and gas, among others.