Petro government received approval to go into debt for renewable energy

After the tensions of weeks ago, this Wednesday – September 25 – the congressmen of the Public Credit Commission and delegates of the National Government, led by the Ministry of Finance and the National Development Finance Company, met to discuss the debt proposals that were presented to the Legislature and at the time it was noted that they would not advance.

One of the personalities who attended this meeting was the director of Public Credit of the Ministry of Finance, José Roberto Acosta, who smoothed out differences with the commission and after a pleasant conversation, achieved a favorable opinion for the National Development Finance Company to contract an external loan with the IDB and the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) for up to USD $138.5 million or its equivalent in other currencies.

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According to Francisco Lozano, president of FDN, a company of the Bicentenario Group, the resources will be used to finance renewable energy projects within its Energy Transition Support Program, generating with These are important resources for one of President Gustavo Petro’s most important bets.

“This is great news for Colombia and for progress in terms of fair energy transition, because with these resources we will be able to contribute to closing the financing gap faced by these projects, offering resources of around USD $140 million for their development at competitive rates and in the long term,” he said.

This official added that “in addition, we will make available to the sector and companies all our knowledge in Project Finance and our financial products to attract other financiers to complement their financing, which is how we promote 4G and 5G road projects.”

For the National Government, the approval of Congress marks a milestone, as it is the first time that resources from concessional funds will be disbursed in the country for the energy transition, while it was indicated that these advances will allow the disbursement of resources in one year and not in four, as originally planned, a situation that will translate into faster development.

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It should be noted that the Energy Transition Support Program seeks to promote the decarbonization of the Colombian economy, with the financing of Fair Energy Transition projects and the strengthening of the capacities and instruments of the National Development Finance Company. for access to thematic green capital markets for a period of up to 5 years.

“The first component of the Program, with resources of USD $137.7 million, will focus on increasing the financing of Non-Conventional Renewable Energy Sources (FNCER) projects and the scaling up of enabling technologies by the FDN. In this sense, the FDN will provide solutions for FNCER, energy communities and energy storage,” explained Francisco Lozano.

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Likewise, with these resources, solutions for flexibility will be structured. to the National Interconnected System, such as transmission lines or distributed energy resources and the deployment of advanced measurement infrastructure, and projects for the production, management, transportation and use of green hydrogen will be financed, as well as for electromobility infrastructure and assets that increase the demand for these assets and the acquisition of electric vehicles.

“The second component, worth USD $270 million, will be used to strengthen the FDN’s capacities to identify, design and manage a portfolio of climate projects. The objective is to design a roadmap to improve the capacity to identify and design sectoral investments that incorporate interventions in favor of nature and/or the climate,” the entity concluded.

In this commitment, based on the Government’s proposals, it is also intended to strengthen the risk and climate change monitoring systems, so that national and regional authorities can get ahead. to the effects that scourges such as global warming are causing in the country.