Solar drives 825MW Colombia capacity growth

Colombia brought online 825MW of power generation capacity in the first half, boosted by new solar projects, official figures show. 

The developments included the 102MW Portón del Sol and 68MW El Paso developments – the first to dispatch electricity to Colombia's interconnected system (SIN), according to grid operator XM. 

Other solar developments to start commercial operations included Tepuy (83MW), La Union (100MW), Fundación (90MW), La Loma (150MW) and La Mata (80MW).

The projects helped lift Colombia's overall installed capacity to 20,767MW.

"With the entry of these new generation projects, the SIN has surpassed the first gigawatt of capacity from renewable sources," XM's national dispatch manager Juan Morales said. 

"However, the path towards the diversification and energy transformation of our electricity generation matrix continues," he added. 

A further 52MW were added via an expansion of the Termocaribe thermal plant. 

Meanwhile, XM said 514MW of solar, 32MW of wind and 12.5MW of hydroelectric power were undergoing tests. 

In total, 32 generation projects started operating from January to June, as well as eight transmission developments. 

More information, in Spanish, can be seen here.