Renewable energies in Valle del Cauca

Last update: 30/09/2022

Over the past decade, the cogeneration of biomass in Colombia has taken a significant leap, from an installed capacity of 174 MW in 2010 to 316MW in 2019, which represents an increase of 81,6%. Simultaneously, the energy surpluses from the biomass destined to the national electric system has almost doubled, being this 134 MW in 2019. The abovementioned shows the relevance renewable energy sources have acquired in the country, which goes in hand with the sector’s incentives such as Law 1715 of 2014 that offers incentives, research and development for energy production and use from non conventional sources.

In this context, Valle del Cauca stands out as one of the country’s leading region in the cogeneration of biomass, accounting for 77% of the country’s ethanol production and generating more than 90% of electricity from biomass at a national level. All of this is greatly due to the strong presence of the sugar industry in the region, which has five alcohol destilleries with a total daily production of 1,650,000 liters of bioethanol and more than 64,000 tons per day of sugar cane. In addition, the region has an intelligent energy cluster that consolidates all the energy sector chain with sales of USD $3,573 million in 2019. Lastly, during such year, the region cgenerated 1,657 GWh of electric energy from biomass and distributed 699 GWh to the National Interconnected System (SIN in its spanish abbreviation) all of which can serve a city of approximately 500,000 inhabitants.

Valle del Cauca is not only predominant in the generation of energy from sugar cane biomass, its also strong in then generation of biomass from other sources of energy. Among those sources are the residues of laying hens, considering the region is recognized for being one of the main zones in the country with the greatest number of poultry production (171 million); and at the same time is known for having the first biogas production factory in Colombia.