Colombia’s La Loma and Fundación PV plants begin commercial operation with combined 240 MWac – pv magazine International

June 26, 2024 Luis Ini

From pv magazine Latam

Enel Colombia, via its Enel Green Power business line, has announced the start of operation of its 150 MWac La Loma and 90 MWac Fundación plants, located in the departments of César and Magdalena, respectively, after having completed the required technical and regulatory tests.

La Loma, which was inaugurated last February, is located in the municipality of El Paso, and consists of 400,000 panels distributed over 387 hectares. Its estimated generation capacity is about 420 GWh annually, “capable of supplying the needs of around 600,000 people,” the company said in a statement.

The project created more than 1,720 jobs during the construction period, with 77% going to residents of the region, Enel added.

The Fundación solar park, meanwhile, is located in the municipality of Pivijay, and consists of more than 244,000 bifacial panels of 540 Wp each, installed on a 237-hectare plot of land, divided into 18 subfields, with a generation capacity of around of 267 GWh a year. The plant will be officially inaugurated in the coming weeks.

The project, which began construction last August, is listed as one of 11 projects awarded in the third auction of long-term contracts called by the Ministry of Mines and Energy in October 2021. Investment in the project is estimated at around $109 million.

Enel said both parks, plus El Paso, which reached a total installed capacity of 99.5 MWdc last April, “are three of the six central dispatch solar projects in the country that have already declared their commercial operation.”

The total number of parks already energized this year, also including Guayepo I and II, “represent more than 34% of the solar energy produced in the entire interconnected system of Colombia,” the company added.