Colombia has once again postponed the full commissioning of Colectora, the transmission line designed to carry over 1,000 MW of wind power from La Guajira to the National Interconnected System. The project will no longer be operational until August 2026 and is now slated for April 2027.
The new delay is explained by the certification of 18 additional communities that must undergo prior consultation , in addition to security problems registered during this year, according to Fredy Zuleta, general manager of Enlaza.
Infrastructure is key to a portfolio of seven wind farms totaling approximately 1050 MW , a capacity equivalent to about 10% of the country's peak demand, according to the information provided. However, none of these projects are currently under construction.
The collector road project was awarded to Grupo Energía Bogotá in February 2018 and subsequently taken over by its subsidiary Enlaza. Since then, the project has undergone an extensive consultation process with ethnic communities located along its route.
That stage had been formally closed in June 2023, after more than five years of negotiations, which allowed progress to be made with the environmental permitting and subsequently with the construction.
The emergence of new certified communities is now once again modifying the schedule of a project that has been ongoing for more than eight years since its award.
The project is divided into two main segments. The southern section, between Cuestecitas and La Loma, is 247 kilometers long and is already 100% complete , while Enlaza plans to energize it in the coming days.
The northern section, between Colectora and Cuestecitas, comprises another 228 kilometers and is currently experiencing the most delays. There, the assembly of towers is already over 80% complete, while the civil works for the Colectora substation are entirely finished.
According to the information provided, the remaining physical work could be completed in less than two months. However, the need to complete the new preliminary consultations prevents the integrated line from becoming operational within that timeframe.
Transmission is progressing, but the wind farms are still pending
The collector will have a total length of 475 kilometers and will operate at 500 kV , the highest voltage level used in Colombia.
Its main function will be to transport to the interior of the country the renewable generation produced in La Guajira, one of the territories with the greatest wind resource in the Colombian market.
The original plan envisioned the connection of seven parks totaling approximately 1050 MW .
These include Tumawind and Chemesky , from Enel Green Power; EO200i , from EPM; and four projects from AES Colombia identified as JK1, JK2, JK3 and JK5 .
The generation scenario, however, also changed during the development of the infrastructure.
Enel Green Power announced that it will not build its projects, while EPM keeps EO200i suspended despite having a valid environmental license.
Of that initial group, the projects of AES Colombia are the ones that continue to advance , according to the information provided.
This creates a particular situation: while the line is progressively approaching completion, much of the wind power capacity for which it was designed is still not available.
The delay in Colectora adds to a broader scenario of delays in the incorporation of new generation in Colombia.
The projected addition of 4475 MW by 2026 was to be added, but as of August 27, only 732.8 MW had been added, according to the data provided.
The new schedule thus leaves April 2027 as the expected date to complete one of the most important projects to unlock the renewable expansion of northern Colombia.
With the southern section completed, the northern section over 80% complete, and the Colectora substation practically finished in civil terms, the main challenge shifts again outside of the physical work: closing the new consultations and completing the necessary conditions to fully energize a line designed to carry more than 1000 MW of wind power from La Guajira to the rest of the country.