(Renewables Now, 20.Feb.2020) — Colombian oil company Ecopetrol SA will develop a 50-MWp solar photovoltaic (PV) park in the department of Meta.
Located on a 46-hectare (113.6 acres) area in the municipality of Castilla La Nueva, the PV park will be owned by Ecopetrol’s hydrocarbon transport subsidiary Cenit, the latter announced on Wednesday.
The solar facility is expected to break ground in the middle of the year and it is estimated to become fully operational in December 2020. Once completed, the 100,000-solar-panel farm should be able to generate enough electricity to meet the demand of a town with 65,000 people.
During the next 15 years, the new plant is expected to offset some 410,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Its output will supply part of the energy demand of the San Fernando and Apiay pumping stations, as well as the oil fields of Castilla, Chichimene and Apiay, located in Colombia’s Eastern Plains.
In addition to this new park, Ecopetrol commissioned in October 2019 a 21-MWp PV plant in the same town. The group plans to construct at least five more solar parks in the next two years in Meta, Santander, Huila and Antioquia departments, it noted.
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