In the south of the department of Cauca, an ambitious project began, the Las Marías Solar Farm, an energy solution that is being built, taking advantage of the power of the sun and the best technologies, to provide the service of Colombians with 99.5 megawatts of sustainable energy. .
This initiative, which is added to the country’s large projects that seek to follow the route of the energy transition outlined in the National Development Plan, is being built 40 minutes from the municipality of Bolívar, and constitutes an opportunity to encourage thousands of Cauca families.
The Las Marías Solar Farm is already a reality, in its first stage, in addition to the development of its infrastructure, Training will be carried out for 100 people from the community of the Patía area, in the role of photovoltaic panel installers.
This education and training process will be led by the National Learning Service (SENA), an institution that will initiate actions thanks to the alliance established with the Ministry of the Interior, the Government of Cauca, the Mayor’s Office of the municipality of Bolívar, Cauca, and a group of private institutions that support the project developers.
John Rojas, PMO of the project, related the significance that the Las Marías Solar Farm has for the inhabitants and for the country’s general ambitions to turn to renewable energy. “This is a successful bet that follows the line of what the government has called the fair energy transition. In a department hit by violence and with high poverty rates like Cauca, this initiative comes to be a focus of employment, so that they direct their gaze to this area of the country, to the most ambitious photovoltaic solar energy project in the entire southwest. Colombian, which will be an engine for the economy of this region,” mentioned the professional.
The 80 women and 20 young people from the community who will be trained as photovoltaic installers will work directly at the Las Marías Solar Farm and will have, from the project developers, an employment contract that provides them with an income that improves their quality of life and allows them to add knowledge through training.
The Mayor’s Office of Bolívar, the Government of Cauca and SENA will carry out the process of calling and selecting these people who reside in Patía, especially in the municipality of Bolívar, Cauca. This is an example of the great value that solar projects have for society and the transformation of the world, as they help not only reduce the ecological footprint on the planet, but also allow us to break the technological, social and economic gaps of the territories.
For Omar Arango, general director of the project, the importance of the Las Marías Solar Farm lies in the energy generation solution for the department of Cauca. “Through the structuring and construction of a photovoltaic solar energy generation plant, we will contribute to sustainability, increasing the reliability and efficiency of the provision of electric energy service in Colombia, as well as improving its productivity and competitiveness. , in such a way that allows the territory to take advantage of the opportunities for growth and economic development,” argued director Arango.
The Marías Solar Farm is located 860 meters from the El Zaque station, where 168,000 solar panels will be installed to reach the end point of the project. With this, the emission of 26,209 tons of CO2 will be avoided each year, thus generating carbon certificates and a positive environmental impact.
Currently, the work is aimed at the installation of two monitoring stations in the vicinity of the solar farm, which will be carried out in September of this year. The energy developed by the Las Marías Solar Farm will be dispatched through the National Interconnected System (SIN) and will be acquired by one of the national marketing and distribution companies.
The developers of this project have in mind, as future social work, the installation of solar energy in public educational institutions and constant support to rural communities in the planting of their plots.
Marlon Gómez, director of the General Support Foundation for the Universidad del Valle, the entity that is in charge of the detailed engineering and development of the environmental and social intervention of the project, commented that this is the opportunity to positively impact the communities. “The energy transition is an opportunity that must reach all territories. The Las Marías Solar Farm, in whose engineering development the General Foundation of Support to the University of Valle (FUV) is working, offers the possibility of bridging the gaps of economic, environmental and social inequality,” says Gómez.
