Energy Minister Edwin Palma met in Bogotá with Anne McKinney, vice president of the Americas Program at the US Chamber of Commerce and executive vice president of AACCLA, alongside representatives of Drummond Ltd., Baker Hughes, Glenfarne Group, General Motors, Capitol and PepsiCo, in a meeting that reaffirmed the American private sector's appetite for expanded participation in Colombia's energy and competitiveness agenda.
Read moreA study by the Fundación para el Desarrollo del Caribe (Fundesarrollo) and consultancy Barrera Rey – Economic Advisory, commissioned by regional chambers of commerce and industry associations, concludes that the Caribbean electricity crisis cannot be solved by replacing Air-e's management — and proposes dismantling the current single-operator model entirely in favor of three to five territorially specialized companies.
Read moreThe Corporación Autónoma Regional del Atlántico (CRA) is running a pilot project to generate electricity from the current of the Magdalena River using a hydrokinetic turbine – a technology that extracts energy from flowing water without requiring a dam or reservoir, and therefore without significantly altering the river's natural dynamics.
Read morePresident Gustavo Petro used X to attribute the historically high electricity tariffs in Colombia's Caribbean region to decisions taken under the governments of Álvaro Uribe Vélez and Iván Duque Márquez, renewing a long-running political dispute over the collapse of the former regional distributor Electricaribe and its aftermath.
Read moreThe national government issued Decree 0393 on April 10, 2026, establishing the policy framework for integrating Energy Storage Systems (SAE) into both the National Interconnected System (SIN) and the Non-Interconnected Zones (ZNI) — areas of the country not connected to the main grid.
Read moreNorwegian renewable energy developer Scatec ASA and Norway's development finance institution Norfund have secured financing of CoP$364.8B from Bancolombia and the Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (FDN) to develop, build and operate the Barzalosa solar park, located between the municipalities of Nariño and Girardot in Cundinamarca.
Read moreWith El Niño now forecast to arrive in September 2026, Colombia's thermal generation sector is navigating a dual challenge: securing sufficient fuel volumes while managing an increasingly stark price divergence between gas and coal that is already reshaping industrial consumption patterns.
Read moreEcopetrol is soliciting information from companies with capabilities in geothermal technologies.
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Luz Stella Murgas, president of Naturgas, used a wide-ranging El Tiempo interview published April 13 to deliver a specific and urgent message to Colombia's energy establishment: without new LNG import infrastructure entering service by the end of 2026 or early 2027 at the latest, the country will lack the gas supply needed to run its thermoelectric fleet during the El Niño dry season now forecast to begin in September.
Read moreEnergy Minister Edwin Palma used a social media exchange with Acolgen president Natalia Gutiérrez to reopen the government's long-running challenge to Colombia's standby fee mechanism, putting a cumulative price tag on the instrument and questioning whether it has delivered on its promise ahead of the El Niño dry season.
Read moreWith the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts projecting that the El Niño event expected to begin in September 2026 could rival the historically severe episodes of 1982, 1997 and 2015, Colombia's electricity generators are pushing back against expectations of a dramatic spike in consumer electricity bills — while acknowledging a more troubling underlying constraint.
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This week XM, the electricity market manager, highlighted that hydro reservoirs were not yet filled enough to withstand an El Niño event. It seemed to suggest using coal plants to let the reservoirs fill up a bit faster.
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Colombia's wholesale electricity market administrator XM has issued a formal alert warning that the country will need to significantly expand its thermal generation capacity ahead of the El Niño phenomenon now forecast to begin in September 2026, with reservoir levels currently running well short of the target required to enter the dry season safely.
Read moreHidroItuango's reservoir has dipped back below maximum fill, recording 97.9% capacity according to the Superintendencia de Servicios Públicos Domiciliarios — a reading that could bring to a close more than 40 consecutive days of spillway releases driven by the heavy rainy season inflows to the Cauca River.
Read moreThe national government issued Decree 0375 of 2026 on April 7, establishing the Fondo Único de Soluciones Energéticas (FONENERGÍA), a unified financing vehicle that consolidates four existing mechanisms — FAER, FAZNI, PRONE and the Gas Fund — into a single instrument aimed at accelerating electricity and gas coverage in rural and non-interconnected territories.
Read moreColombia's Ministry of Mines and Energy convened approximately 32 industrial radiography companies alongside the Servicio Geológico Colombiano and other technical actors for a nuclear safeguards awareness workshop on April 10, focused on strengthening the country's compliance with its international obligations under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Read moreEcopetrol and its subsidiary Hocol have signed a partnership agreement to develop environmental and social projects aimed at closing energy access gaps, promoting non-conventional renewable energy sources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in underserved communities.
Read morePresident Gustavo Petro fired back at the Asociación Colombiana de Generadores de Energía Eléctrica (Acolgen) after the industry body petitioned the Constitutional Court to suspend and strike down Decree 150 of February 11, 2026, issued to address the economic, social and ecological emergency caused by historically severe rainfall across eight departments including Córdoba, Urabá and Sucre.
Read moreIn a campaign address covering his energy policy vision, presidential candidate Iván Cepeda sketched the outlines of a clean energy agenda centered on solar and hydraulic power, positioning Ecopetrol as the lead vehicle for the country's transition away from fossil fuels rather than as a hydrocarbon producer to be wound down.
Read moreColombia's March 2026 inflation reading came in at 5.56%, marking the second consecutive monthly increase since February, but the energy components of the basket told a contrasting story of deceleration rather than acceleration.
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President Gustavo Petro used a post on X on April 4 to dispute a circulating claim that Colombia's energy matrix is 78% fossil-fuel-based, arguing that the figure reflects a methodological error by UPME technicians who count only solar and wind as clean energy while excluding hydropower.
Read moreThe El Campano solar park in Chinú, Córdoba has reached financial close, clearing the way for construction to begin on a project that will add 99.9 MW AC (128.8 MWdc) of solar capacity to Colombia's National Interconnected System.
Read moreForecasters are increasingly confident, unfortunately, that a Super El Niño — one of the most powerful climate events on record — could develop in the second half of 2026, with potentially severe consequences for Colombia's already-stressed electricity system.
Read moreThe national government announced on April 8 a CoP$377.6 billion investment in sustainable energy projects across Colombia's regions, channeled through the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation under the 2025–2026 Biennial Calls Plan of the Sistema General de Regalías.
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President Gustavo Petro took to X on April 5, 2026 to claim credit for a sharp acceleration in electric vehicle sales in Colombia, citing the latest report from industry associations Andi and Fenalco showing that EV sales doubled in a single month.
Read moreRichard Francis, co-director of Sovereign Ratings for the Americas at Fitch Ratings, delivered a sober assessment of Colombia's fiscal and economic outlook in an interview published April 6, 2026, estimating the country would need at least three to four additional years to recover the investment grade it lost in 2021.
Read moreEcopetrol has obtained water use certification for five additional production fields, bringing the total number of certified assets to 23 — a roster that includes the Barrancabermeja and Cartagena refineries.
Read moreColombia became a member of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and one of the perks comes as technical assistance. Late last year, the country used that help to produce a roadmap to net zero.
Read moreIndira Portocarrero, director of the Unidad de Planeación Minero Energética (UPME), gave a wide-ranging interview to Valora Analitik outlining the agency's technical and regulatory agenda for the electricity sector, with system reliability, storage, and clean energy integration as the central threads.
Read moreThe Asociación Colombiana de Grandes Consumidores de Energía Industriales y Comerciales (Asoenergía), the industry body representing large industrial and commercial electricity consumers, named Silvana Habib Daza as its new Executive Director following a rigorous selection process approved at the association's General Assembly ordinary session on March 20, 2026.
Read moreThe political crisis surrounding Air-e's governance deepened in early April 2026, with competing factions within the Pacto Histórico blocking agreement on a permanent replacement for departing interventor Nelson Vásquez Torres, who left in January 2026.
Read moreEmpresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) went on the offensive in late March 2026 following the Environment Ministry's announcement of a sanction process against Hidroituango, with General Manager Jhon Maya Salazar questioning both the basis and the scope of the investigation.
Read moreThe Ministry of Mines and Energy published Resolution 40178 on March 31, 2026, establishing the general rules for long-term clean energy contracting mechanisms under Colombia's just energy transition agenda.
Read moreColombia's distributed solar sector has undergone one of the most rapid transformations in the country's energy history, growing from four solar mini-farms in 2023 to 151 as of March 2026 — an increase of 3,675% in just three years, according to XM, the national electricity market operator.
Read moreColombia's electricity sector is navigating what industry analysts describe as a moment of high structural fragility, with the gap between firm energy supply and demand having narrowed to between 1% and 2% — a margin the sector considers critical for system reliability.
Read moreCaribbean electricity distributor Air-e announced on March 27 that it will lead the First National Congress on Just Energy Transition and Climate Change Adaptation — the first event of its kind to be organized by a grid operator in Colombia.
Read moreColombia's Mining and Energy Planning Unit (UPME) awarded the UPME 03-2024 tender on March 26, 2026 for the installation of synchronous compensators in the National Interconnected System – the first time this grid-stabilization technology has been deployed in the country.
Read moreEcopetrol announced at its March 27 shareholder assembly that construction will begin immediately on the Windpeshi wind farm in La Guajira — between the municipalities of Uribia and Maicao — Colombia's largest wind energy project. The 205 MW facility is targeted for commissioning by late 2027, with a total investment of approximately US$350M across 2025–2027.
Read moreColombia's major electricity holding companies held their annual shareholder assemblies in late March, producing a mix of routine governance decisions and pointed shareholder friction that reflects the sector's broader tensions.
Read moreSome random notes on what we saw in the first quarter of 2026 from a green energy perspective – some longer than others, some more profound than others.
Read moreSpeaking at a high-level intercultural dialogue with Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquera communities in Barranquilla on March 25, 2026, President Gustavo Petro made his most direct case yet for reconciling the prior consultation process with the expansion of renewable energy – arguing that clean energy development is in the interest of the Caribbean's ethnic and mixed-race communities, not a threat to them.
Read moreISA, Latin America's largest electricity transmission company and an Ecopetrol subsidiary, publicly acknowledged for the first time that it is actively watching Venezuela as a potential investment destination, even as its annual shareholders' assembly in Medellín on March 26, 2026 was clouded by a formal governance complaint from minority shareholders.
Read moreColombia's energy, agricultural, and macroeconomic outlook faces a new headwind: the Ministry of Environment, IDEAM, and the national disaster risk agency UNGRD have all confirmed an 80% probability of El Niño developing and consolidating in the second half of 2026, with a 13% chance of a "super El Niño" — defined as sea surface temperature warming above 2°C — toward year-end.
Read moreThe Ministry of Mines and Energy issued Resolution 40163 on March 27, 2026, authorizing thermal power plants to commercialize imported natural gas on the secondary market — a transitional measure valid for six months designed to unlock underutilized LNG import capacity and broaden gas supply at a moment of acute national shortage.
Read morePresident Gustavo Petro announced on March 25, 2026 that Colombia will withdraw from the international investment arbitration system – the framework under which foreign investors can bring disputes against states before private arbitral tribunals rather than national courts – citing the structural bias he argues such tribunals exhibit in favor of private claimants over sovereign governments.
Read moreEnergy and Mines Minister Edwin Palma represented Colombia at CERAWeek in Houston on March 25, 2026, using one of the global energy sector's most prominent forums to advance the Petro government's framing of the energy transition as a technically grounded, socially responsible process rather than an ideological commitment.
Read moreThe MinEnergia and the Fondo de Energías No Convencionales y Gestión Eficiente de la Energía (FENOGE) announced on March 19, 2026 that the Caribe Cambia Tu Energía program will replace inefficient refrigeration equipment in 12,931 strata 1, 2, and 3 households across Bolívar, Cesar, Córdoba, Sucre, and several Magdalena municipalities, with discounts of up to 40% on energy-efficient replacements.
Read moreThe Petro government issued decrees on March 27, 2026 fixing a 7% salary increase for public servants working in national entities of the executive and judicial branches, with the same adjustment applying to teachers. The increase is retroactive to January 2026.
Read moreThe clearest lesson from Colombian energy companies' 2025 annual results is a structural one: businesses with regulated revenues from electricity transmission and distribution networks held up far better than those exposed to hydrological risk, commodity price cycles, or operational volatility.
Read morePromigas closed 2025 with 292,255 new users connected across its gas and electricity businesses, reaching approximately 7.5 million clients in 1,114 communities across Colombia and Peru.
Read moreWith Colombia's presidential election approaching, the country's energy policy has emerged as one of the sharpest lines of division among the leading candidates – with the opposition right promising an immediate reversal of the Petro-era hydrocarbon moratorium and the ruling coalition's candidate signaling continuity in an energy transition that keeps extractive sectors alive but conditions them on environmental and social limits.
Read moreThe Petro government's Group of State Participations within the Ministry of Finance has proposed reforms to the bylaws of the Electrificadora del Meta (EMSA) that would alter the rules for appointing the company's directors — a move that minority shareholders are publicly resisting on the grounds that it would tilt corporate control toward the national government and undermine the merit-based selection processes built up in recent years.
Read moreResearchers from the Universidad del Norte, in collaboration with the Universidad Nacional de Colombia's Medellín campus, are running what they describe as Latin America's first pilot project for salinity gradient energy — or "blue energy" — at Puerto Mocho, near Bocas de Ceniza, where the Magdalena River meets the Caribbean Sea.
Read moreSolar energy surpassed coal in Colombia's annual electricity generation in 2025, according to data published by the Unidad de Planeación Minero Energética (UPME).
Read moreThe Ministry of Housing, City and Territory released a technical guide on March 19, 2026 consolidating Colombia's regulatory framework for sustainable building, mapping eight categories of available incentives and providing practical case studies to help developers, public entities, and financial actors implement greener construction projects.
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This quarter witnessed important advances in major projects like the Bogotá Metro, the first train on the flagship La Dorada–Chiriguaná corridor and, inevitably, a few setbacks.
Read moreEcopetrol has taken full ownership of the Portón del Sol solar park in La Dorada, Caldas, through a merger by absorption in which the project's separate corporate entity will be dissolved and its assets, liabilities, and equity transferred directly to the state oil company.
Read moreThe Ministry of Mines and Energy formalized the Colombia Solar program on March 19, 2026 through Resolution 40159, establishing the technical, financial, and operational framework for rolling out distributed solar generation to households in strata 1, 2, and 3.
Read moreThree state-owned electricity generators formally committed to a new tariff methodology in a high-level meeting chaired by President Gustavo Petro on March 19, 2026, in a move the government presented as a structural measure to reduce speculation in the spot market and lower costs for Colombian households.
Read moreA new multi-stakeholder coordination platform for Colombia's energy transition was launched in Bogotá on March 19, 2026, backed by international funding and designed to address what its organizers identify as the country's core structural problem: not a lack of initiative, but a lack of coordination among the many actors pursuing it in parallel.
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Colombia's Mining and Energy Planning Unit (UPME) released its 2024 Electricity Coverage Index (ICEE), showing that national household electrification reached 93.12% — up 0.45 percentage points from 92.67% in 2023 — as 539,351 new homes were connected during the year.
Read moreEnergy and Mines Minister Edwin Palma met on March 17, 2026 with U.S. Embassy Chargé d'Affaires Jarahn Hillsman and his economic team to review bilateral cooperation and investment opportunities across Colombia's energy sector.
Read moreColombia's gas industry association Naturgas issued a striking warning on March 13, 2026: the country's loss of gas self-sufficiency is producing an accidental reversal of its industrial energy transition, as companies priced out of natural gas migrate toward coal, fuel oil, and other more carbon-intensive alternatives.
Read morePromigas has deployed a continuous intelligent monitoring system at one of its gas infrastructure assets, marking what the Cartagena-based company describes as a strategic step toward carbon neutrality, zero-accident operations, and full digitalization of its asset management processes.
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A post-mortem analysis by Asoenergía – the Colombian Association of Large Industrial and Commercial Energy Consumers – of the October 2025 maintenance shutdown of the SPEC LNG regasification terminal in Cartagena has revealed how poor supply planning drove residential gas contract prices to nearly three times their normal level in just a matter of days.
Read moreColombia's energy sector trade associations gathered in Cartagena on March 17, 2026 to issue a coordinated alarm over what they described as the deepest financial and operational crisis to hit the electricity and gas supply chain in recent memory.
Read moreColombia's General Controller issued a broad warning on March 18, 2026 saying that the country faces a genuine risk of energy rationing and tariff increases, presenting the findings of a sectoral study titled Quality Supply and Energy Storage in Colombia 2020-2030 (Abastecimiento con Calidad y Almacenamiento Energético en Colombia 2020–2030) at a public forum.
Read moreEnergy and Mines Minister Edwin Palma used a Controller’s forum on March 18, 2026 to push back against what he characterized as an alarmist narrative around Colombia's energy security, while opening a significant new debate about a structural component of the electricity tariff.
Read moreThe Electrificadora de Santander (ESSA), a 135-year-old EPM Group utility serving Santander department, is entering electricity generation for the first time through a set of utility-scale solar parks of its own — a strategic step that marks a meaningful expansion of its business model beyond its traditional distribution role.
Read moreColombia's Inspector General's Office has formally demanded that the Superintendency of Public Utilities (Superservicios) expand its reporting on the ongoing state intervention of Air-e, the troubled Caribbean electricity distributor, after concluding that an initial report submitted by the regulator was too vague to allow meaningful oversight of the process.
Read moreA Revista Cambio investigation published March 16, 2026 and based on documents now held by the Fiscalía reveals a coherent pattern of financial opacity during Energy Minister Edwin Palma's tenure as special intervening agent at Air-e: large payment agreements covering pre-intervention debts, the systematic restriction of financial information from auditors and successor officials, and the concentration of accounting control within Palma's immediate personal circle.
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With other issues on their minds, President Gustavo Petro and MinEnergia Edwin Palma have stopped complaining about reservoir levels. We still thought we would update our principal charts concerning water levels in hydro dams, which we hadn’t looked at in six weeks or so.
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Tariffs once again capture MinEnergia’s attention and, by extension, that of SuperServicios and the CREG. This is a hard argument to make for the average non-economist looking at their bill but, in real terms, prices have been under control since the pandemic.
Read moreEPM has launched a technical cooperation project with the South Korean government focused on developing circular economy solutions for the Hidroituango reservoir, the 78-kilometer impoundment on the Cauca River that houses Colombia's largest hydroelectric plant.
Read moreColombia's Ministry of Mines and Energy has launched a national call for technical cooperation project proposals under its partnership with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), targeting the 2028–2029 cooperation cycle. The announcement, dated March 11, 2026, builds on two decades of joint work through which nuclear techniques have been applied to radiological safety, cancer treatment, agricultural productivity, and environmental monitoring.
Read morePresident Gustavo Petro's administration is defending the continued tenure of Ricardo Roa and Jorge Carrillo at two of Colombia's most strategically important state enterprises despite escalating legal controversies surrounding both officials,
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Colombia's Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and IDEAM issued an early warning on March 16, 2026 following detection of warming signals in the equatorial Pacific Ocean indicating possible El Niño development during the second half of the year, with potential implications for national water resources and agricultural sectors.
Read moreHidroituango S.A. issued a stark warning about Colombia's electricity sector vulnerability after analysis revealed the Sistema Interconectado Nacional (SIN) experienced net capacity contracted in 2025 despite new generation project additions.
Read moreSmall-scale solar installations are emerging as a practical complement to large renewable energy parks in Colombia's electricity transition, with fifty generators coordinated by Unergy contributing 65,916 MWh to the Sistema Interconectado Nacional between December 2023 and January 2026—equivalent to annual consumption of more than 35,000 Colombian households
Read moreColombia's Ministry of Mines and Energy presented a draft resolution on March 12, 2026 establishing transitional guidelines for differential electricity tariffs targeting the country's most vulnerable families, particularly those in historically underserved rural areas and territories facing operational difficulties.
Read moreColombia's February inflation rate of 5.29% came in below market expectations of 5.5%, driven primarily by energy price deceleration rather than broad-based disinflation.
Read moreThe Colombian government issued a decree suspending electricity billing and collection for properties affected by the economic emergency declaration in eight departments until users recover payment capacity.
Read moreThe Departamento Nacional de Planeación (DNP) conducted a technical tour of three strategic works funded by royalty resources in Santander that generate direct community benefits.
Read moreCopper and rare earth minerals have displaced petroleum as the primary strategic resources in global competition, transforming international relations into what experts call "Diplomacy of the Subsoil."
Read moreColombia's infrastructure sector presents a contrasting landscape for 2026-2027, with transport projects experiencing both advancement and uncertainty.
Read moreGrupo Ecopetrol reached 99% of its 2030 energy efficiency optimization target by 2025, achieving 24.9 petajulios (PJ) of accumulated energy optimization between 2018 and 2025.
Read moreEnel Colombia registered 28,290 electricity theft cases during 2025, affecting service quality for over 300,000 customers and costing the company more than CoP$1.2B to normalize operations.
Read moreLast Sunday, March 8th Colombians went to the polls to vote in presidential primaries and, more importantly perhaps, to vote in congressional contests for the upper and lower houses. What happened and what does it mean?
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Colombia reached 4 gigawatts in clean energy generation, representing 17.09% of the country's total energy matrix, with the launch of the new Parque Solar Atlántico.
Read moreCelsia strengthened profitability in 2025 despite declining revenues, reporting fourth-quarter net profit of CoP$361B, representing 6.6% growth, while net profit attributable to the controlling company reached CoP$206B.
Read moreENEL announced its 2026-2028 plan includes investments of €53B (US$62.5B), representing €10B (US$11.8B) more than the previous plan, with a focus on accelerating growth in stable environments through renewable energy.
Read moreGrupo Energía Bogotá (GEB) recently published its 2025 sustainability report, a 74-page document that covers all aspects of performance from financial to social. We dug into a few chapters and summarized what it had to say.
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Enel Colombia closed 2025 with net profit of CoP$3.1T, representing 34.9% growth despite operational revenues declining 5.9% to CoP$16T. The company reported consolidated EBITDA of CoP$7.3T, equivalent to 20.7% growth.
Read moreColombian energy company Terpel advanced its energy transformation process by acquiring a large-scale photovoltaic solar plant as part of its corporate strategy to expand beyond traditional liquid fuels and position itself as a comprehensive energy solutions provider in Colombia.
Read moreColombia's Energy and Gas Regulatory Commission published draft Complementary Agreement 001 for public consultation February 27, 2026, marking significant progress toward enabling the first bilateral electrical energy exchange between Colombia and Panama. The draft agreement develops detailed guidelines for cost distribution, interconnection remuneration, and efficient development of the binational project.
Read moreColombian economic think tank ANIF warned that hourly labor costs will surge 34.7% over approximately one year, rising from CoP$7,736 in the first half of 2025 to CoP$10,422 by the second half of 2026.
Read moreColombia's Ministry of Mines and Energy signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) establishing a technical cooperation framework for nuclear technology applications oriented toward decarbonizing energy systems and strengthening electrical supply.
Read moreColombia achieved 93.12% national electric coverage in 2024 after connecting 539,351 new homes to the grid, with rural areas registering the year's strongest growth, according to announcements from the Ministry of Mines and Energy and Enel Colombia.
Read moreColombia's accelerating electric vehicle adoption is forcing insurers to recalibrate pricing models and risk assessments as higher repair costs, battery replacement expenses, and infrastructure limitations challenge traditional automotive insurance frameworks.
Read moreEcopetrol commissioned a 43.6 kilowatt-peak (kWp) photovoltaic system at the Institución Etnoeducativa Internado Laachon Mayapo, located in the Mayapo corregimiento of Manaure municipality in La Guajira.
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