Análisis de causalidad para las categorías estandarizadas de impacto de proyectos de generación eléctrica a partir de energía solar fotovoltaica en Colombia

Abstract

In Colombia, the number of solar-powered electricity generation projects has increased in recent years. According to Decree 852 of 2024 of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, projects with an installed capacity greater than 50 MW —and previously those with more than 100 MW— must submit an Environmental Impact Study (EIA) to the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) for licensing. As part of the environmental assessment, the ANLA has used the instrument “Standardization and prioritization of environmental impacts of licensed projects” as a reference. This instrument offers a list of Standardized Impact Categories (CEI), which group environmental impacts according to their names and theme. This list of CEI is organized by project sector, including photovoltaic projects; however, these CEI established for the latter may not be relevant, because they do not respond to a causality analysis of the activities that are considered usual for licensed projects. The objective of this monograph is to analyze the causality in the CEIs of the photovoltaic solar energy projects licensed by ANLA until March 2023. The methodology includes the homogenization of typical activities of these projects, the identification of applicable CEIs, and the development of a "Cause-Effect Matrix" to analyze the environmental impacts. The results cover the description of the causality in the identified CEIs, the analysis of activities without relevant externalities, and the evaluation of CEIs that, according to the analysis, should not be included in photovoltaic projects.