ePower Colombia

More water under the dam No this isn’t a Moiré pattern and you are not expected to see John Lennon’s ghost or something like that if you squint at it long enough or under the influence of an inappropriate substance (legal or otherwise). It also isn’t a picture of some fabric design you saw one Sunday at the flea market in Usaquen. Instead it really is (as it says) daily generation data from the ten largest hydroelectric dams in Colombia and from the remaining 144 hydro generators, summarized in two groups: the next 10 largest and the (very) long tail. The data runs from the beginning of 2023 through last weekend so it spans the period before and immediately after El Niño. The spikiness comes partially from the variation in power demand between weekdays and weekends but also from a surprising (to us anyway) amount of variation in the amount each plant generates. The next chart removes the weekday/weekend variation by taking 7-day moving averages... #renewableenergy #renewablenergy #renewablepower #energyindustry #epowercolombia #energy

Ceera urges CREG appointments The Center for Renewable Energy and Water Studies (Ceera) has expressed concern over the current situation facing the Energy and Gas Regulation Commission (CREG). The commission’s decisions are crucial to ensuring the proper operation of Colombia’s energy sector and meeting demand in both the short and medium term, Valora Analitik reported. “We urgently call for the appointment of expert commissioners to the CREG,” stated Ceera, representing companies involved in developing and operating small hydro projects and run-of-the-river plants. The organization emphasized that the legal framework mandates the CREG to be a collegial body composed of six expert commissioners and four government members, three of whom have decision-making power... #renewableenergy #renewablenergy #renewablepower #energyindustry #epowercolombia #energy

Where did the thermal go? Although XM has not published demand statistics for June, we do have the official summary of supply / generation. As El Niño came to a slow end, someone in authority decided it was over at the end of April and thermoelectric generation fell dramatically. We also check the solar statistics to confirm the positive press releases that came out last week. The lead chart shows non-renewable i.e. thermal generation by month from December 2020. The minor El Niño events we had earlier in the decade look like pebbles compared to the mountain the industry had to adapt to over the past several months. Peak non-renewable generation occurred in April with an average of just over 100GWd but in May and June that fell to 35GWd, still somewhat higher than normal load, but dramatically lower than the previous nearly 12 months... #renewableenergy #renewablenergy #renewablepower #energyindustry #epowercolombia #energy

EV market in June The National Association for Sustainable Mobility (Andemos) published its monthly report on the behavior of the hybrid and electric vehicle market in June, 2024. Here are the details. Sales of these type of vehicles increased 19% compared to the same period last year, Andemos said. This metric went from 2,562 vehicles in June 2023, to 3,529 during June 2024. This increased 21% compared to previous month, when it was 2,924. Andemos said that 2,766 Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) were sold during June 2024, while sales were 2,965 the same period last year. The industry sold 109 Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and 654 Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) in June this year... #renewableenergy #renewablenergy #renewablepower #energyindustry #epowercolombia #energy

Rail and Mass Transport Roundup – 2Q24 The Petro government is doing its best to promote rail and other forms of public transport but this year so far, the story is not great: rail cargo is down 11% year-over-year. The issue is coal (over 99% of all rail-carried cargo) which is down the same 11%. This and other stories about rail and mass transport from our review of the second quarter. The drop in coal shipments is at least partly if not totally because the President has banned coal exports to Israel, the industry’s biggest customer. So on the one hand, the drop has nothing to do with the government’s transport policy and on the other, it is still the consequence of government policy, just its foreign policy. The graph shows how narrow the rail cargo market is. Despite routes – admittedly not many – in the rest of the county, virtually all of the rail traffic comes from transporting coal in northeastern Colombia. The statistics do not seem to include the Cerrejon railway from that coal mine to Puerto Bolivar on the northern tip of La Guajira.. #renewableenergy #renewablenergy #renewablepower #energyindustry #epowercolombia #energy

Enel’s solar parks Enel officially commenced commercial operations of its Fundación and La Loma solar parks. Combined, these parks contribute approximately 240 megawatts of alternating current (MWac) to Colombia’s power grid, with La Loma standing out as the largest solar park currently connected to the system, Portafolio reported. La Loma alone contributes 150 megawatts of alternating current, surpassing other solar parks, although there is a larger project, Guayepo, on the horizon. This park features over 400,000 solar panels spread across 387 hectares in the department of Cesar. La Loma can generate 420 gigawatt-hours annually, sufficient to power approximately 600,000 households. The construction of this park provided employment for 1,720 individuals, 77% of whom were from the local region... #renewableenergy #renewablenergy #renewablepower #energyindustry #epowercolombia #energy

What should the carbon tax be for the energy sector? Colombia’s carbon tax is a mere US$6 per ton of CO2equivalent, perhaps a useful source revenue but hardly a disincentive. What would an effective tax look like? A dirty business The lead graph shows XM’s reported emissions from electricity generation by fuel type. The increase over the past 18 months comes from El Niño which reduced the country’s emission-free hydro generation capacity and forced the use of carbon-heavy thermogeneration. The sharp drop in emissions at the far right came at the end of April when MinEnergia and XM felt reservoirs contained sufficient water to increase hydrogeneration again... #renewableenergy #renewablenergy #renewablepower #energyindustry #epowercolombia #energy

Roadmap for Colombia’s Energy Transition The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) presented a comprehensive roadmap for Colombia’s energy transition, emphasizing gradual decarbonization and sustainable development. This initiative, supported by the national government, aims to help regions historically dependent on extractive activities explore alternative economic opportunities while ensuring a high quality of life for their residents, La Republica reported. “The core elements of the energy transition roadmap focus on ensuring justice, security criteria, and taking responsible decisions. Our goal is to make sure future generations are not adversely affected by the decisions we make today,” stated Orlando Velandia, President of the ANH, during a forum held by the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) in Barranquilla... #renewableenergy #renewablenergy #renewablepower #energyindustry #epowercolombia #energy

In the latest expansion plan for energy generation through 2037, Colombia’s Mining and Energy Planning Unit (UPME) projects that the total installed capacity of the generation system will increase considerably in coming years. The entity estimates that the total installed capacity of the generation system UPME energy generation plan will range between 34.7 GW and 37.7 GW. This represents a growth of 70% to 85% compared to the current capacity of 20.3 GW. “From UPME, we present this new Generation Expansion Plan, in which we analyze the different available energy sources to identify the optimal generation mix for the country under various scenarios, providing insights into energy matrix diversification, energy security, and future costs,” stated Adrián Correa, General Director of UPME. The plan highlights a significant transformation in Colombia’s energy matrix composition towards non-conventional renewable energy sources, with a projected 53% share by 2037. This will include wind, solar, small ... #renewableenergy #renewablenergy #renewablepower #energyindustry #epowercolombia #energy

You can’t trust Mother Nature El Niño made it clear that Colombia needs more, non-hydro, generating capacity as climate change increases the risk of drought. Government policy and good environmental stewardship say that will not be thermal. But if the answer says “other nature-based renewables” then the country risks trading one type of variability for another. We looked at XM data from 2023 to see what we could learn. When thinking about adding capacity, the UPME must take into account many variables: Policy – As mentioned in the introduction, this government has strong feelings about fossil-fuel-based generation and the UPME would exclude hydro, at least big dam hydro because the purpose is protecting against climate impacts on hydro reservoirs... #renewableenergy #renewablenergy #renewablepower #energyindustry #epowercolombia #energy