Enertis continues its international expansion and opens a new office in Colombia

After the successful collaboration with Celsia in the biggest project in the market “Celsia Solar Yumbo”, Enertis strengthens its position in the market that has high potential for development following the Colombian government’s announcement of a new auction

After having collaborated in the first large-scale ground-mounted solar photovoltaics plant developed in Colombia and until now the largest in the country: “Celsia Solar Yumbo”, owned by Celsia, an energy company of the group Grupo Argos, the company continues to strengthen its position in a market where are currently a lot of projects in development stage.

In the 9.8 MW project that has started its commercial operation in September, Enertis has been in charge of the Owner’s Engineering for the project, supporting Celsia mainly in the revision of the detailed engineering and the construction oversights as well as during the commissioning of the facility.

The Colombian Mining and Energy Planning Unit UPME, depending on the Ministry for Mining and Energy and in charge of a sustainable development of the mining and energy industries in the country, presented in early 2015 the Energy Plan 2050 that represents the plan for electrical expansion and establishes the key features concerning the country’s future development in terms of energy. In one of the scenarios, UPME considers that the penetration of non-conventional energy sources may reach by 2028 a 15 per cent of the installed capacity.

To reach those goals, Colombia passed the bill 1715 with the aim to create a legal framework and introduce tax incentives for the integration of non-conventional renewable energy sources as solar or wind. Considering the high potential that implies the integration of power plants of those technologies into the grid in the short term, given the far shorter terms of studies and construction then hydro power projects, especially regarding solar energy, in addition to the predictability of a future price that they may assure, has awoken lots of interest not only amongst national but also from global players, for example, amongst international investors.

Enertis is currently collaborating in further projects in the market, contributing with its knowledge about the solar photovoltaics technology and control systems for the hybridization with conventional generators.

Taking the aforementioned goals into account, and against the new legal framework, Colombia offers an attractive and competitive future for renewable energies.