Análisis de Costos Nivelados de Electricidad de Plantas de Cogeneración usando Biomasa Forestal en el Departamento de Antioquia, Colombia

Abstract

En este trabajo se analizan los efectos de los incentivos tributarios de la Ley 1715 de 2014 (Ley colombiana de energías renovables) en el costo nivelado de electricidad (CNE) de plantas de generación de energía con biomasa forestal en el departamento de Antioquia. Con base en el potencial energético de la biomasa se consideraron las tecnologías de gasificación, combustión y ciclo orgánico Rankine (ORC). Se analizaron tres casos de estudio: 1) CNE sin incentivos, 2) CNE con incentivos y 3) CNE con incentivos, considerando una depreciación de activos a 10 años. Por otro lado, se realizó un análisis de sensibilidad para evaluar la variación en el CNE por cambios en el costo de la biomasa forestal, el costo de la tecnología de generación, la tasa mínima aceptable de rentabilidad y el periodo de gracia en los créditos para financiar las plantas. Finalmente, los resultados obtenidos muestran que el CNE del ORC (13,2 ¢U$/kWeh) es el que presenta mayor reducción (11,2%), cuando se consideran los incentivos de la Ley 1715 de 2014 con depreciación de activos a 10 años, financiación del 50% de la inversión inicial y periodo de gracia a 5 años.

Levelized Cost of Electricity in Colombia under New Fiscal Incentives

“…The LCOE of the six investment scenarios were calculated using equations (2) and (3), considering a depreciation of assets over 10 years, a tax rate of 33%, a discount rate of 8.1%, an inflation rate of 4%, a 10% financing rate (effective annual interest rate) and a 5-year grace period [4]. For the baseline scenario, an investment without financing was considered.…”

“…The results demonstrated that LCOE will be reduced by up to 20%, although small or new lowincome projects cannot achieve this benefit. The authors in [4] analyzed the effects of the fiscal incentives of Law 1715 in the LCOE of forest biomass energy cogeneration plants in the state of Antioquia (Colombia). The results showed that LCOE is reduced when the incentives are applied with a depreciation of assets over 10 years and financing 50% of the initial investment with a grace period of 5 years.…”

“…Colombia, due to its large area, has high potential for electricity generation by forest biomass [4], [5], sugarcane bagasse [6], waste banana [7], and photovoltaic solar energy [8]. However, the use of these NCRES has been limited, since only 0.5% of the country installed capacity corresponds to [1].…”

“…In this way, projects with NCRES become an opportunity to the implementation of sustainable electricity generation systems, which are necessary to contribute to social development for the post-conflict period [9], to technify the land, to take advantage of the biomass potential for the installation of cogeneration systems [4], satisfy local demand, inject surpluses electricity to the grid, improve the living conditions of the population, add new local jobs, increase coverage of telecommunications services, and supply electricity to the homes in rural areas and isolated regions [3].…”

“…However, the use of the incentives will depend on the capital structure of the investing companies, the type of asset depreciation, the financing mechanism, the proportion of equity and debt, the grace period for payment of debt, the income from existing projects, the externalities, the class of electricity contracts, and the discount rate, among others; additionally, there is a lower benefit for those companies with lower incomes [4], [5].…”