The European Investment Bank (EIB) has loaned US$300 million to Italian energy company Enel Group to develop 486MW of solar PV capacity in Colombia.
The loan will support the development of the Guayepo I and II solar PV projects, as well as “the improvement and expansion of the Enel Colombia distribution business” in the Bogotá region. Enel Colombia’s distribution business has a roughly 25% market share, the company said, and is the largest energy trading company in the country.
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The funds will enable new interconnections and boost grid resilience in the region. EIB vice-president Ioannis Tsakiris said: “This project…contributes to reducing the infrastructure gap between wealthier and less developed regions of Colombia and increases the participation of renewable energy in the power matrix of the country by incorporating additional solar energy generation capacity.”
The loan was made in partnership with SACE, the Italian Export Credit Agency, and made in Colombian Pesos to the equivalent value of US$300 million. Exchange rate risk is neutralised by a synthetic product.
Enel CFO Stefano De Angelis said the loan “adds further value to our business projects through a development strategy focused on renewables and grids”.
In June this year, Enel Colombia brought 240MW of solar PV capacity online. 150MW of that capacity was accounted for by the La Loma project in the northern department of Cesar, which Enel said is the largest operational PV project in Colombia.
Central and Latin American countries have become increasingly attractive markets for solar PV development, largely driven by an overall drop in the levelised cost of energy (LCOE) for solar in the region. PV Tech Premium looked into this development earlier this year after a report from energy analyst Wood Mackenzie said that solar PV would be the most financially viable form of electricity generation in Latin America through 2050.
So far this year a number of international solar developers have either developed or bought solar projects in Colombia. Atlas Renewable Energy entered the market in February 2024 with the purchase of the 201MW Shangri La project in the central-west Department of Tolima. In March, Spanish developer Enerfín began commercial operations at a 128MWp solar project west of Bogotá.
