Colombia: Energy Cities - Ciudades energéticas

The project

Energy Cities (EC) is a management tool for municipalities, which was originated in Switzerland 25 years ago, encouraging the implementation of energy efficiency projects, renewable energy and sustainable mobility at local level through innovative models of collaboration and with the participation of authorities municipalities, the academy, the productive sector and civil society. 

Swisscontact worked in particular on the third strategy action (measure) that was to improve capacity development and awareness in the 3 pilot cities (Pasto, Fusagasugá, Montería) and at the national level.  

The Energy Cities (EC) Program was built upon local stakeholder’s engagement and participation. To make this process effective and reliable, a multi-dimensional capacity-building process was needed, with the objective to flatten knowledge across actors, enhance the capacity of local leaders, encourage active participation and raise awareness for the future development of the program in other cities in the country and in the public policy. It included training on the EEA/EC system, process and tools for both municipal leaders and advisors; technical knowledge and management capacity linked with (the quick-win) project design and implementation; communication and awareness raising; and setting up a national EC support and governance structure. 

Aimed project goals

1. Guarantee leadership and institutional capacity: At the national level, an institution with the necessary competence and legitimacy needs to be identified to lead the future Colombian EC Program. At the municipal level, interdisciplinary energy teams (a mix of technical and political leaders) led by a coordinator need to be set up to manage the EC Program.
2. Technical adaptation of the EC Program: The EC tools and processes need to be adapted to Colombia's local conditions and context. This is only possible through a close collaboration with local, national and international experts in all categories of the EEA/EC approach. The cross-fertilisation with the development of the Chilean Program is also considered of significant value for both administrators, as well as technicians and energy experts in both countries.
3. Capacity Building and Support by Energy Experts: Building the capacity of local and regional experts, members from Colombian universities and local companies that work in (and wish to enter) the area of EC as advisors and project enablers to support the local administration is crucial for the EC Program to be successful in the long term.
4. Handbook for the elaboration of a local energy policy including strategies and action plans and monitoring, based on the EC Process: To ensure a standardized, easy-to- apply approach for a local energy policy in Colombian municipalities, it is important to establish guidelines which provide the content, structure and process of establishing local energy strategies and action plans and monitoring.
5. Financing and Business Models: Business and financing instruments must be set up by the Ministry of Mines and Energy or other institutions to offer financial incentives for the development of local energy strategies and the implementation of municipal projects.
6. International exchange of experiences and lessons-learned: To guarantee comparability and compatibility of the Colombian approach with other existing approaches, international exchange and sharing of lessons learned will be sought as much as possible.

Project partners

• Unidad de Planeación Minero Energética - UPME (Ministerio de Minas y Energía de Colombia)
• EBP (Suiza – Chile – Colombia)
• CORPOEMA (Colombia)
• ENCO (Suiza)
• Hinicio (Suiza)