BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s ambitious plans for wind energy development, especially in the resource-rich La Guajira region, are facing serious setbacks as major companies pull out and projects stall, industry experts say.

Margarita Nieves, director of the Colombian Offshore Wind Research Network, told The Associated Press that despite large targets — including 1.1 gigawatts awarded in a 2019 auction — only two wind farms are partially operating today, with a combined capacity of less than 32 megawatts.

Colombia’s Mining and Energy Planning Unit estimates the country could generate up to 18 gigawatts of wind energy — nearly double the nation’s current installed electricity capacity of 20 gigawatts.

Several companies brought equipment and infrastructure to Colombia around 2021 before securing permits, but parks remain unbuilt. Key obstacles include limited grid connection infrastructure in La Guajira, recent regulatory changes that reduce financial returns and complex social and leadership challenges.

Colombia, Latin America’s third-most populous country, has pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. President Gustavo Petro, the country’s first leftist leader, presents himself as an environmentalist and advocate of a just energy transition. Yet Colombia remains deeply reliant on fossil fuels — oil is its top export and a major source of government revenue.

In 2023, Italian multinational Enel withdrew from the Windpeshi onshore wind energy project in La Guajira. By late 2024, EDP Renewables canceled two major projects, Alpha and Beta, two large-scale onshore wind farms in the same region. In May, Colombian state-owned oil company Ecopetrol acquired nine solar and wind energy projects from Norway’s Statkraft, marking the European firm’s exit from the country. The portfolio spans La Guajira, Sucre, Cordoba, Caldas, and Magdalena, with a combined potential capacity of 1.3 gigawatts. Only one project is currently operational, with others expected to come online between 2026 and 2027.

The move is part of Ecopetrol’s broader energy transition strategy to reduce reliance on oil and gas and meet net-zero goals by 2050. However, challenges like regulatory delays, governance concerns, and potential impacts on Colombia’s fiscal stability raise questions about the transition’s pace and economic effects.

Nieves warned that the situation is “very concerning,” with only two of over 20 planned projects advancing. She stressed the need to speed up regulatory processes, improve consultations with Indigenous communities — notably the Wayuu in La Guajira — and ensure sufficient electrical infrastructure.

The delays also threaten Colombia’s offshore wind ambitions

“Colombia has more than 20 years of delay in wind energy,” Nieves said. “Brazil, in contrast, has built over 1,300 onshore wind farms in the last two decades and is a top global turbine producer.”

The wind energy projects were part of Colombia’s just energy transition, aiming to replace fossil fuels with renewables while supporting vulnerable groups like Indigenous peoples. The region is home to Cerrejon, one of the largest open-pit coal mines in the world and a major player in Latin America’s mining sector, which has been in operation since 1985. The mine has just nine years left in its life span, and its closure, without alternative plans in place, will deal a significant blow to the region’s economy.

Resistance to projects with Indigenous communities

For Samuel Lanao, head of La Guajira’s environmental authority, the main reason several licensed renewable energy projects are being sold off is because companies struggle with deep-rooted social tensions, particularly during the prior consultation process with local Indigenous communities. Lanao said confrontations have emerged between firms and residents, derailing expectations of development.

“This has been a major blow to La Guajira,” he said, “as there were high hopes for economic and social progress through these projects.”

The Wayuu people, a seminomadic Indigenous group in the arid La Guajira region of northern Colombia and Venezuela, remain divided over wind energy development. While some have welcomed the economic support offered by companies building turbines on their ancestral lands, many others have raised concerns over environmental and cultural impacts, and a lack of meaningful prior consultation, in what is one of Colombia’s poorest regions.

Diego Patron, manager of the Jemeiwaa Ka’I wind project, a large-scale wind farm cluster in La Guajira, acknowledged the pioneering nature of Colombia’s early wind efforts, which began in a regulatory vacuum without clear institutional frameworks.

“These foundational projects faced a steep institutional and territorial learning curve, resulting in the loss of key strategic projects,” Patron said. “However, their legacy now forms the cornerstone for new initiatives.”

Patron believes that barriers around legitimate Wayuu community representation, environmental permitting, and contract resolutions have been overcome, creating more stable conditions.”

Patron said misinformation deepened tensions and unfairly damaged firms like EDP that, he says, aimed to support communities.

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