May 20 (Reuters) – Colombia’s environment ministry said on Wednesday it had approved the environmental viability of the exploratory phase of the Nereidas geothermal project, led by state oil company Ecopetrol , Baker Hughes and utility CHEC, in a step that could help open a new source of round-the-clock renewable power in the Andean country.
The project, in the Ruiz volcanic massif in Caldas province, is Colombia’s first large-scale geothermal exploration initiative.
The ministry said it granted a partial and conditional carve-out from a protected forest reserve area outside national parks, limited to exploration work and subject to environmental safeguards, ecological restoration and water-management requirements.
For Colombia, where hydropower has supplied roughly two-thirds to 70% of electricity generation in recent years, geothermal could offer a low-emissions source of baseload electricity that is less exposed to swings in rainfall.
Ecopetrol and its partners said when they announced the alliance in 2023 that Nereidas could eventually generate between 50 megawatts and 100 megawatts of renewable power, enough to serve more than 250,000 families.
The environment ministry also said it had issued new environmental terms of reference for geothermal exploration and exploitation projects, setting out technical, environmental and social requirements for the sector. Draft updates to those rules had been published for consultation earlier this year.
Brazil Energy Insight 
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