The Dominican Republic and Colombia will arrive at the 11th Energy Week with two of the most significant procurement processes in the region. While the Caribbean nation has just awarded 325.69 MW and is preparing new calls for 500 MW for renewable generation and BESS systems, Colombia is moving forward with its long-term auction, which has attracted the interest of 43 companies , after recently awarding nearly 1.8 GW of renewables in its Reliability Charge (CxC) auction .
Both cases were presented during the FES Government and Investment Virtual Summit , organized as a prelude to the 11th Energy Week, which will bring together ministers, regulators, companies, and investors from Latin America and the Caribbean in Santo Domingo. There, officials from both countries agreed that the challenge no longer lies solely in incorporating more renewable capacity, but also in adapting regulations, strengthening transmission infrastructure, and generating clear signals to attract investment.
Representing the Dominican Republic, the Deputy Minister of Electric Power, Ricardo Guerrero , highlighted that the recent renewables and storage tender yielded results that exceeded the Government's expectations.
"It has been a very positive experience, with an offer far exceeding our expectations. The process concluded without any complaints from the participants; it was a successful bidding process, the contract has already been awarded, and we are preparing for the next steps," he stated.
Relive the FES Government & Investment Virtual Summit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC1agTPyq7M
His statements came just days after the signing of the power purchase agreements resulting from the EDES-LP-NGR-01-2025 tender, through which 325.69 MW of the originally offered 600 MW were awarded. The process set a regional precedent by requiring all projects to incorporate battery backup equivalent to 50% of the contracted capacity, integrating storage and new renewable generation within a single framework.
The activity won't stop there. The Dominican government has already confirmed the launch of a new tender for 300 MW of renewable generation and is preparing a separate call for bids to incorporate 200 MW of BESS systems into existing solar plants, an initiative that seeks to reduce energy curtailment and strengthen the operation of the electrical system. Both processes will expand upon a call for bids that attracted 32 companies , the largest participation ever recorded in an electricity procurement in the country.
During the Summit, Guerrero explained that the speed at which new technologies are advancing necessitates accelerating regulatory updates. "It's part of what happens in a world where we add new technologies faster than regulations can adapt," he stated.
One of the main challenges, according to the official, will be recognizing the value that batteries bring to the electrical system. "We need to recognize how battery storage can contribute to providing these services and how to pay for them," he stated.
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This discussion will be a key focus during the 11th Energy Week at the regulators' forum. The forum will address how to adapt market rules to a system with high renewable energy penetration. "We're no longer talking about a machine having to rotate to regulate frequency, but rather about batteries providing that regulation, and legislation needs to adapt," Guerrero pointed out.
The deputy minister also identified other regulatory axes that are gaining prominence in the Dominican Republic, such as flexibility , technological neutrality , digitalization and demand response , in a system that already exceeds 500 MW of installed distributed generation.
Colombia will also arrive in Santo Domingo with an agenda focused on its contracting mechanisms. The country is moving forward with the long-term electricity auction , which has attracted the interest of 43 companies and seeks to incorporate new renewable energy and storage projects through contracts extending to 2030.
This process follows the recent CxC auction , in which Colombia awarded approximately 1.8 GW of new renewable capacity with contracts of up to 20 years . Solar technology accounted for the majority of the awards, and companies such as Enel, AES, and Celsia emerged as key players in the upcoming expansion of the Colombian electricity system.
According to Juan Carlos Bedoya, head of the Office of Regulatory and Business Affairs at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the market transformation made it necessary to review the instruments the country used to promote new investments. "With the arrival of clean energy projects, that system became insufficient because these projects need to guarantee the sale of their energy," Bedoya stated .
In that regard, he explained that Colombia promoted more than 240 consultations with communities, expedited environmental licenses for renewable projects of up to 100 MW and launched a package of transmission works for around USD 1.5 billion , intended to strengthen the network and facilitate the development of new projects, especially in La Guajira.
Bedoya also emphasized that one of the main challenges is building trust within the financial sector. "What the banks are looking for is complete certainty that the assigned projects will be able to be completed on time," he stated.
Although there is interest in financing battery projects, he explained that concerns about counterparty risk remain. "We are implementing hedging and guarantee mechanisms to give banks peace of mind in financing these developments," he added.
The interventions of both officials foreshadow much of the debate that will dominate the agenda of the 11th Energy Week . Beyond incorporating new renewable generation, the region is beginning to discuss how to adapt its electricity markets to a more flexible energy mix, with storage, enhanced transmission, resilience, and regulations that will allow for sustained investment growth in the coming years.