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