Cool Carbon:

Colombia: Micro-Hydroelectric Energy

June 5, 2008

Country: Colombia

The extensive Amazon lowlands and rugged mountainous regions of Colombia are home to rural communities where families live in isolation and poverty. Cut off from the rest of the country, these largely indigenous communities have extremely poor health and education facilities. They mostly rely on subsistence agriculture to eke out a living.

In terms of energy sources, the communities generally use kerosene lanterns or rely on small, inefficient, unreliable and non-renewable diesel powered generators that combine to create a significant source of CO2 emissions.

These challenges not only contribute to environmental degradation, but also hinder economic development for poor families.

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Because there are such ample hydrological resources — such as rivers and streams — in rural Colombia, Mercy Corps proposes a two-part strategy to meet the energy needs of rural Colombia in a more sustainable way.

The first part is community energy development, with a goal of increasing the capacity and technical abilities to manage an energy project. The second part is providing the capital and engineering expertise to establish a pilot micro-hydroelectric system with a view toward replication in a number of communities.

Mercy Corps will be working in partnership with APROTEC, a local non-governmental organisation that has built a number of micro-hydroelectric projects in indigenous areas, rural communities and marginal urban neighbourhoods throughout Colombia. Together, we will construct a micro-hydroelectric project for the Minaflores community in the mountainous region of Tierradentro. The Minaflores community, one of eight communities in Tierradentro region, is keen to replicate the success of a neighbouring village by establishing a micro-hydroelectric system that will provide sufficient, reliable electricity for 22 families.

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Under the leadership of a project director and APROTEC technical specialists, the community will construct the infrastructure required for the installation of the hydroelectric facility: stream intake, canal, sand filters, pump housing, machinery shed, machinery installation, ditches and bridges. The installation team will also be trained to take over day-to-day operations and maintenance for the hydroelectric facility. Local transportation and all labour will be provided by the community who will also, subject to appropriate environmental screening, contribute all the local materials needed for the construction such as rock, gravel and sand, wood and other locally sourced materials.

The traditional authorities in the indigenous area will appoint community members to be responsible for collecting payment for electricity, as well as administering the funds to ensure sound financial management.

Mercy Corps will help with appropriate governance and fiscal oversight, provide training in accounting and bookkeeping, and ensure proper linkages to the traditional community leadership of the Nasa (Paez) culture.

The carbon emission reduction associated with a 17kWh micro-hydro facility for Minaflores is estimated to be 51 tons of CO2 per year, or 1,020 tons of CO2 over its anticipated 20-year lifespan.

Wider benefits of electricity provision in Minaflores will be enhanced educational opportunities (availability of the school in the evening, access to computers), improved food security (through food refrigeration), improved health (refrigeration of vaccines, lighting in health clinics) and the creation of additional opportunities for economic development.

Successes — and lessons learned — from this pilot project will be applied to future projects in other communities of the Tierradentro region.