Vientos Alisios – the most advanced offshore wind project in Colombia

Colombian Ministry for Mines and Energy launched on Tuesday 3^rd May 2022 the Roadmap for the Deployment of Offshore Wind Energy in Colombia (“Hoja de Ruta para el despliegue de la energía eólica costa afuera en Colombia”), which has been developed with the support of the World Bank and the UK Government, and is expected to attract FDI to Colombia amounting to approximately US$27.000 million by 2050.

BlueFloat Energy, a global offshore wind developer headquartered in Spain and with projects currently in development in the UK, contributed to the Roadmap building on its  pioneering  role in the global energy transformation and its pipeline of over 15 projects in 6 countries, including the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Australia and New Zealand, making it the best partner for Colombia.

Carlos Martín, CEO of BlueFloat Energy has participated at the launch event of Colombia’s Roadmap for the Deployment of Offshore Wind Energy, on May 3^rd, 2022 in Barranquilla. He presented BlueFloat Energy’s offshore wind projects currently under development in Colombia and based on the company’s international experience has put forward some recommendations on how to shape Colombia´s regulatory framework in order to enable rapid deployment of the offshore wind in the country.

Carlos Martin, CEO of BlueFloat Energy, comments: “we are pioneers in the fast-growing offshore wind industry as we combine unique in-house expertise in offshore wind with a focused approach to project development based on creating strategic alliances and an early dialogue with the local stakeholders. BlueFloat Energy is the partner that Colombia needs to meet its target of reducing its carbon emissions between 20% and 51% by 2030.”

BlueFloat Energy leads the development of the offshore wind project Vientos Alisios, located off the waters between the Atlantic and Bolívar departments in Colombia, together with Enerxia Renovables, its strategic partner in the country, which has a strong experience of advising on the development of over 2.0 GW of offshore wind and solar PV projects throughout the project lifecycle.

Vientos Alisios is to date the most advanced offshore wind project in Colombia as it was the first project that was granted the pre-feasibility status from the DIMAR (in January 2021), in addition to obtaining approval from the bodies listed by DIMAR in the pre-feasibility agreement (around 95% of the required approvals) and  securing an offer for the 200MW grid connection from UPME, the guarantee for which has been presented on the 28^th of April of this year, as one more milestone towards the deployment of the first offshore wind farm in Colombia.

“BlueFloat Energy invests in Colombia because it believes in the potential of the country. Colombia has a privileged location for the development of offshore wind projects and has an outstanding wind resource” commented Armando Politi, BlueFloat Energy´s Country Manager for Colombia, who also added “our objective as a company is to build an offshore wind industry in Colombia, generating value for the country´s local and national economy whilst working jointly with the local communities under the strictest sustainability policies that aim to minimize the impact. ¨

Offshore wind technology enables countries to take full advantage of the abundant wind resource while revitalizing coastal communities and placing vital energy production near consumption centres. As offshore wind – both bottom-fixed and floating – can be deployed at scale and relatively quickly compared to other large-scale energy production facilities, and it has been widely recognized as the key to enabling decarbonization trajectories compliant with the Paris Agreement.