Colombian communities can now generate renewable energy

The Colombian government under leftist president Gustav Pedro had announced a decree on Tuesday, which was signed on Friday, allowing rural and minority communities, including farmers, indigenous people and Afro-Colombians to form partnerships with companies in the private or public sectors to put generate energy from renewables like wind and solar.

The decree also said that the companies thus formed by the communities should meet their local energy needs before they can sell the surplus energy that is generated. But the irony lies in the fact that many of the communities in the coastal districts where these renewables-based energy companies are to set up projects are opposed to them. There is much negotiation and litigation that needs to be gone through before the projects can take off.

In Colombia, 70 per cent of the energy needs are met through hydro-electric projects, and a very insignificant contribution is made through wind and solar power generation. But the more important fact is that coal and oil contribute to the nearly 30 per cent of Colombia’s energy needs, and the country also exports coal and oil. The crucial role played by coal and oil, the important fossil fuels, which are blamed for the greater part of the greenhouse gas emissions and the consequent climate crisis, cannot be easily dismissed. Ways have to be found as to how the use of coal and oil can be minimised, and how Colombia still can reach the net zero level can be achieved through carbon credit system. How Colombia manages this transition will be of importance to other countries in Latin America as well as the rest of the world.

The idea behind the decree is that communities make the necessary decisions, and when they form partnerships with energy companies they will calculate how the energy needs are to be met and how demand for energy is to be managed. What this means is the companies with their desire to increase consumption of energy and thereby increase their profits will be reined in.

The question is not any more replacing the fossil fuels with the renewables in meeting the energy needs, but also to exercise control over consumption patterns. Without having to go through deprivation, it will be possible and it will be necessary to control unlimited consumption. This would lead to a different kind of an economy where the needs of the community are met without crossing reasonable limits on consumption as such.

The idea economic package would be to have the right mix of fossil fuels and renewables, and add biofuels to the energy basket. One of the lessons that can be learned from the past is not to depend on one exclusive source such as coal in the early industrial period, and on oil and gas in the later part of the 20th century.

It might turn out to be an equal folly to depend on exclusively and excessively on the renewables because the problems that might arise from them in terms of generation have not yet been assessed. In the transition period to a green energy economy, it would be prudent to use all sources of energy, fossil fuels and renewables, and mix them judiciously.

This could also lead to greater efficiency in the use of fossil fuels as well as in the renewables. Whatever be the source of energy, it is wastefulness that gives rise  to problems. Colombia is in an ideal position because it uses 70 per cent of its energy needs through hydro power, and it can improve the efficiency of its use of fossil fuels, then its greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced to target levels.