Colombia’s Colectora Transmission Project Reaches 90% Completion to Connect La Guajira Wind Power
Colombia’s 500 kV Colectora transmission project is now nearly 90% complete, putting it on track to connect La Guajira’s wind farms to the national power grid. The project covers roughly 475 kilometers of high-voltage lines and includes new and expanded substations across La Guajira and Cesar. Once operational, it will provide the infrastructure to connect seven wind projects with a combined generation capacity of 1,050 megawatts (MW). The latest milestone brings Colectora closer to operation, though the wind farms must still be completed before that power can reach the grid.
What is Colombia’s Colectora transmission project?
Colombia’s Mining and Energy Planning Unit (Unidad de Planeacion Minero Energetica, UPME) awarded the Colectora project in 2018 to connect new wind farms in La Guajira with the national electricity system. Enlaza, a subsidiary of Grupo Energia Bogota, is developing the infrastructure.
The project has three main components. It includes the new Colectora 500 kV substation in Uribia, La Guajira; two parallel 500 kV transmission lines between Colectora and Cuestecitas; and a 500 kV connection between Cuestecitas and La Loma in Cesar.
Spanning roughly 475 kilometers, the line passes through 10 municipalities in La Guajira and four in Cesar. It features the Colectora-Cuestecitas section—comprising two parallel 114-kilometer lines—and the 247-kilometer Cuestecitas-La Loma stretch.
The project also includes expansions at the Cuestecitas and La Loma substations. It plans 480 megavolt-amperes reactive (MVAr) of compensation equipment to help maintain voltage levels across the transmission system.
Construction has progressed at different rates across the project. Figures from Grupo Energia Bogota, cited by Colombia’s Ministry of Environment, placed overall progress at 81% by June 20, 2025. Cuestecitas-La Loma was 90% complete, while Colectora-Cuestecitas was at 17%. The La Loma substation was 97% complete, and Cuestecitas stood at 79%.
How much electricity will Colectora add to Colombia’s grid?
The key figure is 1,050 MW of renewable generation that Colectora is designed to connect. UPME identified seven wind projects in La Guajira with approved connection capacities totaling that amount.
As a transmission project rather than a power plant, Colectora will not generate the 1,050 megawatts itself; instead, it serves as the infrastructure to carry that power. Its role is to transport electricity produced by wind farms into Colombia’s national grid.
Enlaza estimates that 1,050 MW represents about 6% of Colombia’s installed generation capacity and about 9.6% of maximum electricity demand under the projections used when the project was planned. Those percentages describe the generation that could be connected through Colectora, not an additional 6% of electricity produced every hour.
As of July 2026, none of the seven wind farms originally intended to connect through Colectora had been built. Colombia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy has proposed temporary measures to address delays affecting wind projects in La Guajira and prevent developers from losing their connection opportunities. The ministry said the measures are intended to address delays in transmission works and other obstacles affecting renewable projects.
UPME has also identified additional projects that could benefit from transmission infrastructure associated with the Cuestecitas connection, giving Colectora a potential role beyond the seven projects initially assigned to it.
Why is Colectora important for La Guajira?
La Guajira has some of Colombia’s strongest wind resources, particularly in its northern areas. Several companies have proposed wind farms there, but generating electricity is only part of the challenge. The power must also reach consumers elsewhere in the country.
Colectora addresses that transmission constraint by creating a high-voltage route toward La Loma in Cesar, where electricity from La Guajira can enter the broader national transmission system.
The project has also required environmental and social procedures because its route crosses territories inhabited by Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. Colombia’s National Environmental Licensing Authority (Autoridad Nacional de Licencias Ambientales, ANLA) handled the environmental licensing process, while Enlaza carried out prior consultations with affected communities.
The project’s progress comes amid broader delays in La Guajira’s wind industry. The Ministry of Mines and Energy said in July 2026 that some renewable projects had been assigned operating dates that did not match the availability of the transmission infrastructure needed to connect them. The government is seeking to adjust those schedules in cases where delays were outside developers’ control.
If the wind projects are eventually built and reach their planned capacity, Colectora will allow electricity generated in La Guajira to move into the national system and serve demand elsewhere in Colombia. The project’s central role is to provide the grid infrastructure needed to connect the region’s wind resources with consumers across the country.