Transmisión eléctrica en Colombia: Panorama 2025

This report by the Stockholm Environment Institute provides a comprehensive analysis of Colombia's electrical transmission sector as of 2025. It details the institutional framework, the structure of the National Interconnected System (SIN), and the critical structural challenges—including severe project delays and technical capacity exhaustion—that threaten the integration of new renewable energy generation projects.

• Colombia's electrical transmission infrastructure is facing a structural lag compared to the rapid expansion of generation capacity. While the total installed capacity is 20.9 GW, an additional 18 GW have been approved, which would bring the total to 38.9 GW by 2030.
• The National Interconnected System (SIN) is reaching critical operational limits. Less than 5% of transport capacity is currently available, and it is projected that 90% of substations will exhaust their short-circuit interruption capacity within the next five years, which jeopardizes the integration of new generation projects.
• Project execution is a primary challenge for the sector, with 55% of the 20 transmission projects currently in execution experiencing delays. Some projects have been delayed for a decade or more, specifically Bacatá-Norte (12 years) and Sogamoso Norte-Nueva Esperanza (10 years).
• The 'Master Plan for the Modernization and Expansion of Electrical Transmission Infrastructure' identifies 98 strategic works. The completion of 44 of these projects could resolve 149 operational restrictions predicted for the 2024-2037 period.
• The process for assigning transport capacity has become congested due to a surge in requests, largely driven by renewable energy. The 2022 cycle received 843 requests for 56 GW (assigning 7.5 GW), while the 2023-2024 cycle saw this double to 1,732 requests for 89 GW.
• The Caribbean region, specifically the Guajira-Cesar-Magdalena and Córdoba–Sucre-Bolívar sub-areas, shows the most severe signs of network exhaustion, with 16 restrictions in emergency status and 15 in alert status.
• To achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and meet projected demand increases (which could be 2 to 5 times current levels by 2052), Colombia will require approximately 50,000 additional kilometers of transmission lines, bringing the total to nearly 80,000 km.

APA

Tovar, G. S., & Vega-Araújo, J. (2026). Transmisión eléctrica en Colombia: Panorama 2025. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/transmision-electrica-colombia-sei2026-009.pdf

Chicago

Tovar, Germán Saenz, and José Vega-Araújo. Transmisión eléctrica en Colombia: Panorama 2025. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2026. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/transmision-electrica-colombia-sei2026-009.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Tovar |first1=Germán Saenz |last2=Vega-Araújo |first2=José |title=Transmisión eléctrica en Colombia: Panorama 2025 |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=March 2026 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/transmision-electrica-colombia-sei2026-009.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{tovar2026transmisin, author = {Tovar, Germán Saenz and Vega-Araújo, José}, title = {{Transmisión eléctrica en Colombia: Panorama 2025}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2026}, month = mar, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/transmision-electrica-colombia-sei2026-009.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }