Colombian energy crops are making ready to ramp up liquefied pure gasoline imports forward of an anticipated El Niño, which might convey dry climate to the Andean nation.
The US Local weather Prediction Heart has signaled that an El Niño is prone to develop by Aug. 1 and persist by the top of the 12 months. The phenomenon sometimes raises world temperatures and shifts rainfall patterns, usually bringing hotter and drier circumstances to Colombia and the Andes. That poses a threat to the nation’s energy system, which depends on hydropower for roughly two-thirds of technology capability.
Colombia’s fossil fuel-burning energy crops, which run totally on pure gasoline, are presently supplying about 15% of electrical energy however might want to enhance output to assist protect reservoirs ranges, stated Alejandro Castañeda, director of Colombia’s energy mills’ affiliation Andeg.
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The nation is importing round 210 million cubic ft a day of LNG by its sole import terminal, SPEC, primarily to satisfy demand from households and business, Castañeda stated, including that larger LNG imports will seemingly imply larger vitality costs. Round August, the power’s complete import capability of 475 million cubic ft a day will seemingly be utilized by thermal mills.
SPEC “will almost definitely be working at full capability starting in August,” to satisfy demand from thermal crops, Castañeda stated.
Colombia, which started importing LNG in 2016, has steadily elevated volumes over the previous decade, with shipments surging to 2.06 million metric tons in 2024 over the past El Niño, in accordance with information compiled by Bloomberg. Imports fell 8% the next 12 months to about 1.9 million metric tons.
A rising home gasoline scarcity in Colombia has drawn greater than a dozen LNG import proposals to satisfy gasoline demand principally from different sectors. Two small 60 million cubic ft a day tasks have taken a remaining funding resolution, with operations set to start in September. Ecopetrol SA can have a facility in Buenaventura alongside the nation’s Pacific coast and Caribe LNG, led by Course2 Power LLC and Andalusian Power, can have an identical one alongside the Atlantic coast.
Colombia’s energy system operator XM SA stated in its newest report that reservoirs must construct water from August to exceed 80% of capability earlier than the nation enters a drier stretch sometimes seen from December by April, a interval identified regionally as “vitality summer season.” Present reservoir ranges are round 60%, in accordance with XM.
Thermal mills are prone to run at full capability between November and Might, Castañeda stated. Over the past El Niño, they accounted for as a lot as 55% of the nation’s electrical energy technology.
Chatting with reporters final week, Castañeda stated Colombia wants to arrange for a robust El Niño to keep away from energy outages. Proposed measures embrace incentives for households to curb electrical energy use and insurance policies encouraging firms to generate their very own energy and promote extra provide to the grid.
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