Environmental Blog

1. The licensing map by technology and capacity

The first step for any renewable energy developer is to identify which authority is competent and which licensing route applies, according to the technology and installed capacity of the project. The following table summarizes the framework in force as of May 2026:

Technology	Capacity	Competent authority	Licensing route
Solar photovoltaic	< 10 MW	No environmental license required	Specific environmental permits according to impacts
Solar photovoltaic	10 MW to 100 MW	ANLA	LASolar — Decree 1033 of 2025, optimized route
Solar photovoltaic	> 100 MW	ANLA	Ordinary environmental licensing procedure
Wind	< 10 MW	Regional Environmental Authority —CAR—	Ordinary environmental license before the CAR
Wind	10 MW to 100 MW	ANLA	LAEólica — Decree 1186 of 2025, optimized route
Wind	> 100 MW	ANLA	Ordinary environmental licensing procedure
Small hydropower — Interconnected System	< 10 MW	CAR jurisdiction	Environmental license before the CAR
Small hydropower — Interconnected System	10 MW to 100 MW	CAR jurisdiction	Environmental license before the CAR
Small hydropower — Interconnected System	> 100 MW	ANLA	Ordinary environmental licensing procedure
Small hydropower — Non-Interconnected Zones	≤ 10 MW	No environmental license required	Water concession and specific permits

An important clarification regarding small hydropower projects: unlike solar and wind projects, small hydropower plants do not have an optimized licensing route equivalent to LASolar or LAEólica. Their procedure continues under the ordinary route before the Regional Environmental Authorities for capacities below 100 MW, which implies significantly longer timeframes and requirements than the new optimized routes for solar and wind.

2. LASolar under Decree 1033 of 2025: what it is and what changes

In force since September 30, 2025, LASolar applies to photovoltaic solar generation projects with installed capacity between 10 MW and 100 MW. It is an optimized licensing route, not an exemption from licensing. The project is still evaluated by ANLA and receives an environmental license resolution, but the procedure is faster and the documentation requirements are predefined.

2.1 Advantages over the ordinary procedure

1. No Environmental Alternatives Diagnosis —DAA— is required for connection assets included in the project. This eliminates a stage that, under the ordinary procedure, may add between 6 and 12 months.
2. Project-specific terms of reference within 15 business days. Unlike the ordinary procedure, where the developer works with generic terms of reference, under LASolar ANLA issues terms of reference specifically prepared for each project, adjusted to the sensitivity of the territory and the planned works, within a maximum period of 15 business days from verification of the criteria. As of May 2026, ANLA has issued 12 project-specific terms of reference and is evaluating the first EIA filed under this route: the 19.9 MW DSE Neiva Solar Park.
3. Mandatory deadlines at all stages. This reduces the regulatory uncertainty that has historically affected financing for renewable energy projects.
4. Possibility of including connection assets in the same license, provided they meet the inclusion criteria, avoiding separate procedures for evacuation infrastructure.
5. Simplified minor changes, with a specific list of changes that do not require formal modification of the license, expressly defined in Decree 1033.

2.2 Location requirements — exclusion criteria

LASolar does not apply to projects located in areas with specific environmental restrictions. The project may not be located in:

1. Areas of the National System of Protected Areas —SINAP— or their buffer zones.
2. Ramsar wetlands or mangrove ecosystems.
3. Páramos and sub-páramos, or their areas of influence as defined by IDEAM.
4. Forest reserve areas under Law 2 of 1959, except those classified as Type A with the possibility of removal from reserve status.
5. Territories of ethnic communities without having completed the prior consultation process.

If the project fails to comply with any of these exclusion criteria, it must process the environmental license under the ordinary route. Verifying the project’s location against these restrictions is the first technical step before initiating any procedure before ANLA.

2.3 Community participation in LASolar

One of the most relevant aspects of LASolar is that it explicitly incorporates mechanisms for association with local communities and social governance. The decree promotes the participation of communities in the project’s area of influence, not only as recipients of information but also as actors with the possibility of economic involvement.

This has direct implications for the engagement strategy that the developer must design from the prefeasibility stage.

3. LAEólica under Decree 1186 of 2025: what it is and what changes

Signed on November 10, 2025, LAEólica applies to wind generation projects with installed capacity between 10 MW and 100 MW. Like LASolar, it is an optimized route that does not eliminate environmental assessment, but structures it differently from the ordinary licensing procedure.

3.1 Technical design criteria incorporated into the license

LAEólica introduces something new compared to LASolar: it incorporates location, design and operation criteria directly into the decree. This means that part of the environmental conditions are predefined by regulation and do not need to be negotiated case by case with ANLA.

These criteria include:

1. Minimum distances from populated centers, homes, springs, rivers and beaches.
2. Use of technologies to prevent impacts on birds and bats, such as detection and shutdown systems and blade inspection.
3. Restriction of construction to already transformed areas. Natural ecosystems may not be intervened.
4. Installation of turbines with specific noise and safety standards.
5. Efficient land use based on turbine density per hectare.

3.2 Wind projects in forest reserve areas

Decree 1186 introduces a particularly relevant provision for projects located in forest reserve areas under Law 2 of 1959. Wind projects with capacity between 5 MW and 100 MW located in Type C reserve areas, and projects up to 5 MW regardless of classification, may be developed without requiring removal from forest reserve status, provided they do not require new access roads or road openings and comply with LAEólica inclusion criteria.

This eliminates one of the most frequent causes of delay in renewable energy projects located in reserve areas.

3.3 Timeframes under LAEólica

The decree establishes specific deadlines for ANLA at each stage of the procedure. For example, once the EIA is filed, ANLA has a maximum of five business days to verify the documentation and issue the administrative act that formally opens the procedure.

This reduces uncertainty regarding when the evaluation formally begins.

4. Small hydropower: the most demanding route

Unlike solar and wind projects, small hydropower projects do not have an equivalent optimized licensing route. Their procedure continues under the ordinary environmental licensing route, with specific features that make them especially complex.

Competent authority according to capacity

Small hydropower projects up to 10 MW in Non-Interconnected Zones do not require an environmental license. They operate with a water concession and specific permits before the relevant CAR.

Small hydropower projects below 100 MW in the Interconnected System require an environmental license before the CAR with jurisdiction over the project area.

Small hydropower projects of 100 MW or more require an environmental license before ANLA under the ordinary route.

The fact that most small hydropower projects fall under CAR jurisdiction, and not ANLA, has an important practical implication: timeframes, evaluation criteria and documentation requirements vary significantly among Regional Environmental Authorities.

The same type of project may take 12 months before one CAR and 36 months before another, depending on institutional technical capacity and the entity’s workload.

4.1 Additional environmental permits for small hydropower

Unlike solar and wind projects, a small hydropower plant requires a broader set of environmental permits in addition to the license:

1. Water concession for use of the water resource, based on the design flow.
2. Riverbed occupation permit for works in the river channel.
3. Forest harvesting permit if forest cover is affected.
4. Environmental flow management plan, defining the flow regime that must be maintained downstream from the intake.
5. Discharge permits if the project generates wastewater during operation.

4.2 Environmental flow: the most critical issue in small hydropower licensing

Environmental flow —the minimum volume of water that must remain flowing in the river after intake— is the variable that most determines the viability and profitability of a small hydropower project.

ANLA and the CARs define it case by case based on hydrological studies. It may represent between 15% and 25% of the river’s average annual flow.

An environmental flow set above the developer’s projections may significantly reduce expected generation and completely change the financial equation of the project.

Technically supporting the proposed environmental flow before the authority, based on robust hydrological studies, is one of the most important aspects of the licensing process for a small hydropower project.

5. Prior consultation in renewable energy projects

All three technologies —solar, wind and small hydropower— may require prior consultation if the project area has the presence of ethnic communities. For renewable energy projects, this is especially critical for two reasons.

1. The best renewable resources are often located in areas with ethnic presence. Regions with the highest solar potential, such as La Guajira and the dry Caribbean, and the highest wind potential, such as La Guajira and the Caribbean coast, have a high presence of Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. Rivers with strong hydropower potential frequently cross territories with ethnic roots.
2. Prior consultation may double or triple the licensing timeframe. Even under the optimized LASolar and LAEólica routes, if the project requires prior consultation, the consultation process before DANCP suspends ANLA’s deadlines until it concludes. A prior consultation process may add between 12 and 36 months.

For this reason, verifying ethnic presence in the project’s area of influence before initiating the procedure before ANLA is the first step that any renewable energy developer should take.

Early identification of the need for prior consultation allows it to be incorporated into the project schedule instead of being discovered as a surprise at advanced stages of licensing.

6. Comparison of licensing routes by technology

Criterion	LASolar	LAEólica	Small hydropower
Decree	Decree 1033 of 2025	Decree 1186 of 2025	Decree 1076 of 2015, ordinary route
Applicable capacity	10 to 100 MW	10 to 100 MW	CAR: < 100 MW; ANLA: ≥ 100 MW
Competent authority	ANLA	ANLA	CAR < 100 MW / ANLA ≥ 100 MW
Requires DAA	No, for connection assets	No, predefined criteria in decree	Yes, in some cases
Mandatory ANLA deadlines	Yes	Yes, e.g. five days for opening act	No, ordinary deadlines
Listed minor changes	Yes, Decree 1033	Yes, Decree 1186	Partially, sector regulations
Additional permits required	Few, such as land use and minor discharges	Few, similar to solar	Multiple: water concession, riverbed occupation, forest harvesting
Estimated time without prior consultation	6 to 10 months	6 to 10 months	12 to 30 months, varies by CAR
Time with prior consultation	18 to 36 additional months	18 to 36 additional months	18 to 36 additional months
Main delay risk	Location in excluded area / prior consultation	Location in excluded area / prior consultation	Environmental flow / CAR capacity / prior consultation

7. What the developer should do before starting the licensing process

1. Verify the project’s location against LASolar or LAEólica exclusion areas. If the area falls within an exclusion zone, the project must follow the ordinary route, which involves significantly higher time and cost.
2. Request certification of ethnic community presence before DANCP before filing the license application before ANLA or the CAR. Discovering the need for prior consultation after the procedure has begun may suspend the process for one or two additional years.
3. For small hydropower, prepare robust hydrological studies to technically support the proposed environmental flow before the CAR. An overestimated environmental flow may compromise the financial viability of the project.
4. Prepare project cartography in the SHP formats required by the VITAL platform from the beginning of the technical process, not at the end. Format errors are the most frequent cause of returned filings.
5. Identify the competent CAR for small hydropower projects and assess its specific timeframes and requirements before committing financing and construction schedules.
6. Incorporate the social management team from the prefeasibility stage. LASolar and LAEólica require community engagement and, in the case of LASolar, promote association mechanisms with communities that must be designed before the procedure begins.

Corporación Bioparque advises renewable energy project developers throughout the full environmental licensing cycle: location verification, preparation of the EIA under LASolar or LAEólica terms of reference, prior consultation management with ethnic communities, processing of associated environmental permits and follow-up before ANLA and the Regional Environmental Authorities.

Contact us at corporacionbioparque.org for an initial assessment of your project’s licensing route.