Colombian Energy Minister Diego Mesa has announced plans for the country’s first offshore wind farm with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).
Speaking at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston the Minister said an agreement to start the first wind project will be signed and that developing the industry could bring in some $27bn in investments by 2050.
The Mayor of the Colombian Caribbean city of Barranquilla, Jaime Pumarejo, is set to sign an agreement with the Danish offshore wind investor/developer CIP for a 350 MW offshore wind project which will be developed near Barranquilla and would become the first wind farm project in South America.
“We want to take a firm step to generate clean energy hand in hand with those who are experts in the field,” said Mayor Jaime Pumarejo.
“The country has a potential for power generation of 50GW (gigawatts) with offshore projects, which almost triples the current installed capacity of the entire country, which is 17.7 GW,” Minister Mesa said.
Mesa said that his government has had talks with coal producers in Colombia to increase exports following requests for extra supplies from European, Central American, and Caribbean countries as global energy flows are disrupted by the crisis in Ukraine.
According to a press release from the Ministry, Mesa will highlight the Colombian Government’s commitment to diversifying its renewable energy matrix through the issuance of roadmaps for hydrogen and offshore wind.
In the country’s Offshore Wind Roadmap, which is being developed in cooperation with the World Bank Group, it is estimated that Colombia can install 50 GW of offshore wind capacity.
The Hydrogen Roadmap seeks to develop between 1 GW and 3 GW of electrolysis to produce low-emission hydrogen in the medium term.
Source: Seatrade Maritime News
