Regulation & Policy Nov 8, 2021 4:27 PM
The Minister of Mines and Energy (MinEnergia), Diego Mesa, announced that the government is evaluating the opportunity to hold a new renewable energy auction.
Mesa said that this new auction will be held in the first half of next year, La Republica reported.
The expert said that the alternative of holding a new renewable energy auction is gaining more and more strength.
“The goal is for the country to have more wind projects by 2024 and 2025. In this way, the deadline for commercial operation would be extended to 2024 and 2025 to help projects that were pending and with investment plans,” Mesa said.
Mesa said that the new bidding process could use a voluntary mechanism, but specified that it is still being discussed internally.
“We are going to make decisions from here on,” MinEnergia highlighted.
He said that the scheme would be similar to the third auction, but there is a possibility of modification to decide if it is necessary to have the complementary mechanism apart from the voluntary one.
“The scheme has worked quite well. We were able to have competitive bids despite the disruptions in logistics worldwide, the cost of panels in China. And by contemplating projects for 2024 and 2025, when the outlook for the logistics chain at a general level is clear, the country could think about lower prices,” Mesa explained.
Bottom-Line: Continuing to award renewable energy projects is good news, considering the high uncertainty due to the Hidroituango case.
However, authorities should announce measures on prior consultations, as this could allow speeding up the development of new projects.
