Nine Companies File to Qualify for Colombia’s Offshore Wind Tender; DEME, Jan de Nul on List

October 30, 2024, by Adrijana Buljan

Colombia’s Ministry of Mining and Energy has published a list of nine companies that have submitted documents to qualify for the country’s first offshore wind tender as this first stage of the process concluded on 28 October. The final list of companies that will be eligible to bid in the first half of 2025 is expected in December.

In its first offshore wind tender, the Colombian government aims to allocate areas where between 1 GW and 3 GW of offshore wind capacity can be installed. The offshore wind projects under the first round are planned to be built mainly in shallow and deep water maritime areas of the departments of Atlántico, Bolívar, southern Magdalena and northern Sucre.

The first stage, now completed, involved potential developers filing accreditation documents with the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) so that the government could determine which national and/or foreign companies with experience in offshore energy project development would submit offers and thus obtain the allocation of permits for their development.

On the list are BlueFloat Energy and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), who revealed their plans in the country earlier, as well as UK-based Dyna Energy, Powerchina and China Three Gorges Corporation, Colombia’s Ecopetrol and Celsia, and Belgian offshore construction specialists DEME and Jan de Nul.

The offshore wind tendering process in Colombia is led by the Ministry of Mining and Energy, the General Maritime Directorate (DIMAR) and the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH). In a press release from 29 October, the energy ministry highlighted that this was the first offshore wind tendering process being organised in Latin America.

“We have successfully made progress in this first process to make offshore wind energy a reality, which propels us as leaders in the region in terms of energy transition”, said Andrés Camacho, Colombia’s Minister of Mining and Energy.

Colombia launched its Offshore Wind Energy Roadmap in May 2022, which estimates that the country has the potential of installing almost 50 GW of offshore wind capacity across more than 12,000 square kilometres of areas identified for offshore wind development. Around 27 GW of this is said to be best suited for bottom-fixed and 21 GW for floating foundations.

Earlier that same year, the Mayor of the city of Barranquilla, in the Atlántico department, signed an agreement with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) for a 350 MW offshore wind project and as the roadmap was published, the government said that Barranquilla would be the pioneer city of offshore wind energy in the country.

Shortly after the roadmap was launched, BlueFloat Energy revealed it had seven projects under development in Colombia, totalling 5.2 GW in capacity with a project named Vientos Alisios, located in waters between the Atlántico and Bolívar departments, being the most advanced.

At the end of last year, Swedish engineering and consultancy company, AFRY, revealed that it would support the Colombian government in identifying an offtake mechanism for the commercialisation of offshore wind energy in the country.