Colombia’s Procuraduría monitors 4 MW Barrancabermeja solar project as grid connection remains unresolved before construction start

The Procuraduría Provincial de Barrancabermeja initiated preventive monitoring of the El Tiburón and Galias 1, 2 and 3 solar farms in Santander department, confirming that construction contracts were awarded in February 2026 to Unión Temporal Solar Barranca 2026 for COP 28 billion before grid operator Electrificadora de Santander (ESSA) had assigned connection points. The agency stated the action is strictly preventive and does not constitute a finding of responsibility, but seeks to verify regulatory compliance and institutional coordination. ESSA confirmed to local media that connection studies, technical specifications and inverter datasheets remained incomplete as of the inquiry date, leaving the installations without formal interconnection approval.

The project consists of four plants of approximately 993 kWp each, totaling near 4 MWp, financed through credit and royalty resources administered by Foncolombia. Construction formally began on June 12, 2026. El Tiburón, the first facility under development, will be located near the El Castillo wetland at the entrance to Barrancabermeja on the Bucaramanga highway and will comprise 1,524 photovoltaic modules with estimated annual generation of 1.72 GWh. The three Galias installations will be sited along the Yuma road with combined capacity of roughly 2.97 MWp and aggregate output near 5.17 GWh annually, bringing total project generation to approximately 6.89 GWh per year.

The municipality’s Secretariat of Environment and Energy Transition acknowledged in an April response to a petition that the ESSA interconnection study was in “technical concertation phase,” confirming that contractual obligations preceded technical clearance. The Viviendas Solares program is designed to supply energy under a distributed generation scheme and reduce electricity bills for 3,200 families in Barrancabermeja. The project was presented by the Ministry of Mines and Energy in February 2026.

The oversight action occurs as the Procuraduría escalates scrutiny across Colombia’s energy infrastructure. Separate disciplinary investigations now target former energy minister Edwin Palma and ex-superintendent Elmer Felipe Durán over alleged failures during the state intervention of commercial operator Air-e, which began in September 2024. That process identified post-takeover debt rising from COP 833 billion to COP 2.23 trillion and unreported environmental liabilities on 12 high-voltage lines. The agency also opened investigations into municipal energy debts exceeding COP 73 billion in Santander de Quilichao and COP 13.5 billion at Empaso in Cesar, while issuing a preventive alert demanding suspension of a billion-peso transmission tender over alleged lack of transparency.