New expansion projects strengthen the National Interconnected System of Colombia - BNamericas

2022-06-24 21:50:12 By : Ms. Fenny Deng

This XM release was published using machine translation.

XM has among its responsibilities the operational planning of the National Interconnected System, SIN, and for this, one of the activities it carries out is the verification of the technical requirements defined in the current regulation for the entry of generation and transmission expansion projects.

According to Jaime Alejandro Zapata Uribe, Manager of the National Dispatch Center, CND: "The new projects put into operation in 2021 and in the first quarter of 2022, allowed an increase of 4% in the kilometers of lines of the STN and STR networks, in 3.2% the transformation capacity in MVA of the system we operate and increased the effective capacity of the plants with Non-Conventional Renewable Energy Sources -FERNC- from 79 MW to 153 MW, which has an impact on an increase in the reliability of our Interconnected System National. We hope that in 2022 the system will continue to expand, tending increasingly to have a more robust and reliable system, aimed at the challenges we have in the sector towards energy transition”.

Next, we present the detail of the projects that entered the SIN from January 1 to March 30, 2022:

Colombia has, among others, hydraulic, thermal, wind and solar generation plants, which allows us to have a robust energy matrix to meet the energy demand of Colombians.

Two generation projects entered our energy matrix that add reliability to the SIN:

• On March 03, the Delphi Helios 1 META solar project of ENERSUA SAS ESP entered with 9.9 MW in the department of Meta.

• On March 30, the Las Violetas generation plant of PCH EL COCUYO SAS ESP entered with 0.945 MW in the department of Antioquia.

The SIN networks are a set of lines and substations, with their associated equipment, including international interconnections, which transport energy from the generation plants to the transformation substations and finally to the final consumer. This system is made up of the National Transmission System, STN, and the Regional Transmission System, STR, and Local Distribution System, SDL.

In the first quarter of 2022, 10 projects entered the SIN, 1 in the STN, 5 in the STR network and 4 connection between SDL and the STR. Of which stand out:

On January 27, 2022, GRUPO DE ENERGIA DE BOGOTÁ declared the D-FACTS type devices (Flexible Distributed Alternating Current Transmission System) in operation on the Termocandelaria to Ternera 1 and 2 circuits at 220 kV. This project was defined by the Mining and Energy Planning Unit - UPME, as an "urgent project" since it will allow the export of the energy associated with the expansion of the Termocandelaria thermal power plant, which has a firm allocation of energy obligations for the system and it is expected to be in operation at the end of this year 2022. The D-FACTS devices work as valves to regulate the flow of power transmitted by the transmission lines.

• Two 115 kV projects came into operation that improve the flexibility in the operation of each of the related substations. The first is the Normalization of the Purnio 115 kV Substation of CHEC on January 26, 2022 and the second is the Normalization of the Mariquita 115 kV Substation of CELSIA COLOMBIA as of February 23, 2022.

• On January 23, 2022, EPM declared the new 110 kV Nueva Santa Rosa substation in operation as EPM's first fully digital power substation. With the entry of the substation, there are new energy flow distributions in the department of Antioquia, which favors reliability for service provision.

• Within the modernization works of the network that EMCALI is carrying out, on March 3, it declared the Diesel II – Juanchito 2 115 kV circuit in operation, with which the reliability in meeting the demand is increased and a of the operational restrictions of the area.

• For its part, CEO declared a line bay in operation at the Cabaña Substation 115 kV that will allow the connection of the Incauca cogenerator.

• Additional elements were installed in departments on the Atlantic coast to distribute power between the STR and the SDL, thus increasing power injection capacity, as follows:

o The network operator AIR-E reported the start of operation of the Ciénaga 50 MVA 110/13.8 kV Second Transformer projects and two 30 MVA 110/138 kV transformers at the North Substation, on January 22 and March 4 , respectively.

o For its part, AFINIA on February 21 declared the start of operation of the Second Trafo Calamar 12 MVA 66/34.5/13.8 kV project and on March 14 the operation of the second Coveñas 60 MVA 110/34.5 kV transformer.

Considering the generation projects that have a connection concept approved by the Energy Mining Planning Unit - UPME, with a start-up date of 2022, which have a bank guarantee in accordance with the current regulatory framework, it is expected that during the year more than 3,000 MW of new generation projects, represented by 50% by solar generation projects, followed by 22% by hydroelectric projects, where Ituango is the plant with the greatest contribution to this percentage, 19% of new thermal projects and the remaining 9% represented in wind projects. It is highlighted that of the 3000 MW expected, 80% is greater than 20 MW and therefore will belong to the central office.

Additionally, the entry of 10 STN projects is expected as a result of UPME calls, the installation of new D-FACTS devices in the Guajira-Cesar-Magdalena -GCM- subarea and more than 35 projects aimed at strengthening the networks of network operators. at the level of the regional transmission system.

Eight generation projects entered our energy matrix that add reliability to the SIN:

Throughout 2021, 42 projects entered the SIN, 8 in the STN, 16 in the STR network and 18 connection between SDL and the STR. Of which stand out:

• On February 15, EMPRESAS PÚBLICAS DE MEDELLÍN began operating a pilot project with the installation of D-FACTS distributed series compensation systems on the Ancón Sur - Envigado 1,110 kV line.

• On June 5, ISA INTERCOLOMBIA declared in operation the totality of the entry of the works of the project by call UPME 03-2014 “Antioquia (Ituango), Medellín (Katíos) and Associated Transmission Lines”.

• DESARROLLO ELÉCTRICO SURIA declared the Suria 230 kV Substation and associated assets operational on June 13, which are part of the UPME 05-2013 call.

• On July 25, Cenace reported the start-up of the 230 kV Pimampiro Substation, on the border with Ecuador at the STN level.

• The San Juan 220 kV Substation, UPME 04-2018 call project. located in the department of La Guajira, was declared in operation? by the SAMPI CONSORTIUM, as of December 31.

During 2021, the network operators, with the aim of strengthening the regional transmission network and having greater energy flows between the regional transmission network and the local distribution network, put into service the projects indicated in the following image where they are located by department and OR.

From XM we continue with a permanent monitoring of the variables of the system and working with the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the other actors of the energy ecosystem to ensure the provision of the service with safety and reliability.

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