For a few weeks the country has been getting ready to launch in the fourth quarter of this year two large-scale renewable energy plants, considered the largest in the country, and that will enter to reinforce the electricity generation matrix, from clean sources.
(Defining a roadmap for offshore wind projects).
It’s about the Alpha and Beta wind complexes developed by the Portuguese multinational EDPR, and which will be 25 times larger than Guajira I (inaugurated last January) and executed by Isagen, since its installed capacity alone will be 504 megawatts (MW): 224 MW for Alpha and 280 MW for Beta, not to mention that the wind turbines will have an installed capacity of 5.6 MW, and whose blades measure 80 meters, which allows a diameter length of 160 meters.
“This project, which covers an area of 170 hectares, and which consists of 90 wind turbines (39 for Alpha and 51 for Beta) between both parks, began its assembly at the end of February, and its entry into operation will depend on the development in the assembly of the transmission line that ISA is currently building”, explained the Minister of Mines and Energy, Diego Mesa.
(The first offshore wind farm will be in Barranquilla).
For its part, the European company stressed in a statement regarding the two wind complexes that “the projects were remunerated for the stability of the electrical system, in addition to the clean energy they produce.”
EDPR will now look to secure long-term power purchase agreements with third parties (known as PPAs) to sell the electricity produced by both farms.
The Alpha and Beta wind farms are derived from the two contracts they obtained in the 2019 reliability charge auction, and to a investment of more than US$600 million for its development. The plants are located in the department of La Guajira, an area that will become the scene of large projects for generating electricity from wind, which will supply the National Interconnected System (SIN) in the next decade.
Likewise, the wind complexes are located in the area of the communities of Araparen, Sachikimana, Jununtao and Tolira, belonging to the territory of the Wayúu ethnic group, communities that are located approximately at kilometer 12 via Cerro de La Teta, in the district of Limoncito , rural perimeter of the municipality of Maicao.
The components of the wind complexes arrived in Colombia through Puerto Brisa (December 16, 2021 and January 10, 2022), located in the municipality of Dibulla (La Guajira), on the ships Pacific Harmony and Star Loen, which were loaded with 119 and 63 pieces of wind turbines, respectively from China, of the total of the 990 that are currently used in the assembly of the two megastructures for the production of clean energy.
The 504 MW of installed capacity will be able to cover the energy consumption of 820,000 families in the national territory, which would benefit more than 2.5 million Colombians, and would also contribute to reducing 1.4 million tons of CO2 during the useful life of the two complexes.
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