Independent power producer AES is finalising the acquisition of a 648MW wind project portfolio in Colombia, supported by DNV GL as technical adviser.
Colwind SA is the current owner of the Jemeiwaa Kai complex, which consists of five projects in the development phase, called Apotolorru, Carrizal, Casa Electrica, Irraipa and Jotomana.
The wind farms, which AES Colombia is purchasing, will cover over 40% of the Latin American country’s 1.5GW by 2022 renewables target.
The wind farms are potential tender participants for forthcoming auctions, which Colombia is preparing for in the second half of this year.
In the first round, held in February, no projects won as they could not fulfil the indicators set by the authorities.
The Colombian authorities have proposed a new model for the second round that features seven changes. These changes include a 12-year power purchase agreement contract term, setting hourly blocks for the PPAs instead of yearly production and changing the minimum capacity for projects from 10MW to 5MW.
AES Colombia general manager Federico Echavarria said: “This will be the biggest wind project in the country, which will make us the leader in renewable power generation in the upcoming years.
“Our goal is to develop, in Colombia, the most competitive and sustainable portfolio in the entire energy sector.”
DNV GL’s experts assisted AES Colombia in analysing the wind energy potential of the projects and in evaluating the performance and production of various manufacturers and models of wind turbines.
The complete wind data analysed were processed and validated according to the standards stipulated in DNV GL’s quality control process.
For modelling the wind flow, DNV GL’s team used virtual met data in their model.
DNV GL has a mesoscale wind map for the La Guajira region with a resolution of 2km, which has served as a guide and support for both this and other projects in the area.