Colombia announced it commitment to meet its Paris Agreement targets of carbon emissions reduction by reaching an installed capacity of renewable energy sources of 1500MW by 2022.
The Colombian Minister for Mining and Energy, María Fernanda Suárez Londoño, made the announcement at a preparatory meeting for the UN Climate Action Summit.
“The diversification of our generation matrix is a need that cannot be postponed”, added the Minister. In four years, the country aims to increase its renewable sources from 50MW to at least 1500MW.
Colombia’s mining sector is also planning significant changes to reduce its carbon emissions by over 11 million of tons by 2030, equivalent to the Amazon rainforest’s absorption of emissions over 15 years.
While the Minister mentioned solar and wind energy as potential routes for the development of Colombia’s renewables sector, geothermal remains a significant untapped potential.
Colombia has an estimated 2210MW of untapped geothermal potential. There are currently no projects directly using geothermal resources as an energy source. However, two projects are in pre-feasibility and feasibility phases: a 190MW geothermal project in the Macizo Volcánico del Ruiz, and a collaborative project between Ecuador and Colombia for a 138MW geothermal power plant at their border.
