Colombia. With 300,000 solar panels in projects that are already generating energy and others that are being installed, the company Celsia reported having reached 100 MW of clean and renewable energy, a figure that is equivalent to supplying more than 54,000 homes a year.
These 100 MW of solar energy are represented in 6 solar farms and 110 solar roofs and floors located in Colombia and Central America, which help to stop emitting more than 50,000 tons of C02 each year.
"At Celsia we are passionate about renewable energies and we are committed to promoting photovoltaic energy both on a large scale to deliver energy to the SIN and for distributed generation in companies and in the short term, in homes. In 2018 we closed them with 34 MW of installed capacity with these clean sources and today, almost in mid-2019, we reached 100 MW with projects generating energy and others that are already in installation. Our goal is to reach 250 MW of solar energy so that 30% of the energy generated annually from our portfolio is from non-conventional renewable sources," said Ricardo Sierra, president of Celsia.
Currently, Celsia has 3 solar farms: two connected to the National Interconnected System, WITHOUT their respective countries: Celsia Solar Bolívar (Colombia), and Celsia Solar Divisa (Panama), and one more, the Yumbo solar farm, which delivers its energy to the Postobón plant, one of the most important in the country. There are three others that are under construction in Honduras (Comayagua) and Colombia (Tolima and Malambo). These projects add up to more than 60 MW of solar energy.
With regard to solar roofs and floors, the company has 110 projects: 34 of them that already deliver renewable energy and that are installed in companies, universities, shopping centers, residential complexes, factories, a media outlet and a health institute located in Valle del Cauca, Antioquia, Cundinamarca, Atlántico, Huila, Santander and Bolívar, Colombia, and in San José de Costa Rica.
The rest of the projects are in the process of being installed in the departments of Quindío, Antioquia, Atlántico, Cundinamarca, Bolívar, Valle del Cauca and Cauca. In Central America, the company is developing projects in: Panama, Honduras and Costa Rica.
These distributed solar energy projects total more than 40 MW, including those that are in installation and will be ready in the second half of the year.
"The photovoltaic solar system that we installed with Celsia is an extension of the Environmental Management program that for more than 10 years we have developed both in the Clinic and in the Institute. In our environmental commitment we are very rigorous in the reduction in the consumption of electricity and water, achieving significant decreases in recent years, and now with this project the contribution will be even greater".
Pedro Pablo Perea, director of the Visual & Auditory Clinic of the Institute for Blind and Deaf Children of Valle del Cauca, which has installed a system of 420 solar panels.
"We want to be an actor that contributes to the reduction of the carbon footprint with sustainable initiatives and projects, this is a fundamental part of our mission. Therefore, we decided to join the use of renewable energies with the installation of solar panels in our operation in Cartagena by the hand of Celsia that helps us improve the quality of life of our community".
Pablo Pulido, general manager of Mallplaza in Colombia, a shopping center located in Cartagena where the company installed a solar system of 3,150 solar panels.
"This installation is the most emblematic photovoltaic project in airports in Latin America, and is also the reflection of a joint vision of sustainability that begins at El Dorado airport. It is satisfying to be able to measure the scope of this alliance with Celsia and the positive environmental impact it promotes. Very soon El Dorado will be able to generate an estimated 12% of the energy consumption of the air terminal."
Mauricio Ossa, president of Odinsa, where 10,000 solar panels are being installed.
Source: Celsia.
