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OVERVIEW

The Scaling Up Renewable Energy Activity (SURE) works with the Colombian Government to diversify energy generation.  SURE helps create competitive energy markets and reduce energy costs by developing transparent power procurement policies.  The activity also builds institutional capacities to integrate renewable energy into the power grid, and promotes private sector engagement to produce affordable, renewable electricity.  This activity runs from December 2017 to June 2025.  


GOALS

INCREASE ACCESS TO COST EFFECTIVE ENERGY

SURE supports renewable energy resource integration into Colombia’s electric grid.  The activity also assists the Colombian Government’s transition to a more resilient, competitive, and cost-effective power system. 

CREATE A COMPETITIVE ENERGY MARKET

SURE works with the Colombian Government to design, conduct, and assess renewable energy auctions.  SURE uses falling renewable energy costs and resilience to extreme weather events to encourage public and private sector actors to invest in renewable energy technologies.

FOSTER INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

SURE helps the Colombian Government implement policies and regulations that build energy distributors’ technical capacities to produce and distribute renewable energy. SURE also helps public and private sector energy entities learn how to plan, operate, and integrate renewable energy sources.

STRENGTHEN LOCAL CAPACITIES

SURE improves the Colombian energy sector’s knowledge of renewable energy management through training initiatives.  SURE also supports the Colombian Government’s development of efficient regulatory models to integrate renewable energy, and provides renewable energy job training to indigenous communities in Colombia. 

ANTICIPATED RESULTS 

  • Support the Colombian Government with the first successful renewable energy auction;
  • Help the Colombian Government develop renewable energy generation and distribution regulations;
  • Encourage electricity distributors, project developers, and the financial sector to participate in renewable energy auctions;
  • Partner with the Colombian Government to develop a renewable energy battery storage system for the Colombian Caribbean’s power grid;
  • Partner with the International Renewable Energy Agency to publish the case study “Renewable Energy Auctions in Colombia: Context, Design and Results”; and
  • Work with the Colombian Government and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop a plan to increase renewable energy production on Providencia Island and to construct more energy efficiency in homes and hotels;