Navigating by Energy Communities: Articulating Design and Engineering for the Democratization of Energy
HTML Full Text (Spanish)
PDF (Spanish)
XML (Spanish)

Keywords

Energy Community
Renewable Energy
Graphic Design
Biodiversity
Just Energy Transition

How to Cite

Orozco-Álvarez, M., Bueno-López, M., Calpa Yepes, M., & Andela Medina, J. A. (2025). Navigating by Energy Communities: Articulating Design and Engineering for the Democratization of Energy. Signo Y Pensamiento, 44. https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.syp44.ncea
Dimensions
 

Google Scholar
 
Search GoogleScholar

Abstract

The Just Energy Transition (JET) currently occurring in Colombia, which has been supported by new regulations to create a path toward decarbonization of the energy system and universal access to energy, offers rural communities the opportunity to become energy communities, facilitating access to electricity and the arrival of systems based on non-conventional renewable energy sources, even transforming them into energy producers. This text reflects on some of the results of the Sustainable Rural Energy Plan (PERS Cauca) from a graphic design and engineering perspective, which identified energy needs in rural areas of Cauca and formulated sustainable projects, and the project funded by the University of Cauca: Strategy for Social Appropriation of Knowledge to Promote Energy Communities in the Department of Cauca. It highlights the community of El Rosario, Guapi, as a viable case for becoming an energy community, implementing design strategies based on qualitative and research-creation methods. The results show how design is key to communicating the concept of energy communities to rural actors, empowering them to generate electricity from renewable energies and enabling them to have sustainable systems from a technical, environmental, and social perspective. Engineering is articulated with the use of graphic resources that facilitate the appropriation of knowledge and promote the sustainability of energy communities in Colombia.

HTML Full Text (Spanish)
PDF (Spanish)
XML (Spanish)

Bueno-López, M. y Garzón Lemos, S. (2017). Electrification in non-interconnected areas: Towards a new vision of rurality in Colombia. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 36(4), 73-79. https://doi.org/10.1109/MTS.2017.2763479

Bueno López, M., Sarmiento, J., Escobar, C. y Andela, J. (2023). Cauca. Plan de Energización Rural Sostenible. Universidad del Cauca; La Unidad de Planeación Minero Energética (UPME); Instituto de Planificación y Promoción de Soluciones Energéticas para zonas no interconectadas (IPSE). https://www1.upme.gov.co/Documents/Enfoque-territorial/Cartilla_formulacion_proyectos_2024.pdf

Bueno-López, M., Rengifo Ordoñez, M. T., Chacón Campo, D., Tocancipá-Falla, J. y Osorio Arias, A. (2024). Energy transition for rural development: A preliminar case study in Colombia for improving artisanal fishing. Scientia Et Technica, 29(02), 89-96. https://doi.org/10.22517/23447214.24944

Calpa Yepes, M. (2024). Navegando por las comunidades energéticas: memoria gráfica sobre comunidades energéticas en torno al Plan de Energización Rural Sostenible del Cauca para la comunidad del Rosario, en el municipio de Guapi - Cauca [Trabajo de grado]. Universidad del Cauca, Colombia.

Correa, Y., Muñoz, I., Franco-Obando, F. y Bueno-López, M. (2023). Computational comparison of AC and DC motors to hydrodynamic changes in marine fishing vessels. TecnoLógicas, 26(56), e202. https://doi.org/10.22430/22565337.2442

Escobar, A. (2016). Autonomía y diseño: la realización de lo comunal (1.a ed.). Editorial Universidad del Cauca.

Granit, I. (2023). What makes Colombia’s indigenous peoples adopt microgrids? Social acceptance and financial constraints in renewable energy diffusion. Energy Research & Social Science, 101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2023.103132

Manzini, E. y Coad, R. (2015). Diseño, cuando todo el mundo diseña: introducción al diseño para la innovación social. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9873.001.0001

Ministerio de Minas y Energía. (2024). Manual de gestión de comunidades energéticas. Autor. https://www.minenergia.gov.co/documents/13313/Manual-Gestion-Comunidades-Energeticas-2024.pdf

Neves, C., Oliveira, T. y Karatzas, S. (2025). Citizen participation in local energy communities: A social identity and pro-environmental behaviour joint perspective. Energy and Climate Change, 6, 100212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egycc.2025.100212

Orozco-Álvarez, M., Bueno-López, M., Andela, J. A. y Calpa, M. (2023). Proyecto ID 5999: Estrategia de apropiación social del conocimiento para el impulso de las comunidades energéticas en el Departamento del Cauca. Vicerrectoría de investigaciones. Universidad del Cauca.

Orozco-Álvarez, M. y Calpa Yepes, M. (2024). El diseño y las comunidades energéticas, el Rosario, Guapi - Cauca [Ponencia]. XV Congreso de Enseñanza del Diseño 2024, Universidad de Palermo, Argentina.

Solarte-Caicedo, S., Miranda, P. y Roa, S. (2025). From promise to pitfall? How interventions by non-governmental organizations can exacerbate energy vulnerability in Colombian off-grid communities. Energy Research & Social Science, 127, 104257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2025.104257

Webler, T. y Tuler, S. (2025). Community civic capacities for meaningful engagement in siting infrastructure for the energy transition. Energy Research & Social Science, 127, 104224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2025.104224

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright (c) 2025 Marisol Orozco-Álvarez, Maximiliano Bueno-López, Milena Calpa Yepes, Julian Andres Andela Medina

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.