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This paper presents an assessment of the obstacles to the development of non-conventional renewable energy sources in Colombia. In the study, eleven barriers were included in three clusters: technical, social and economic. These barriers obstruct renewable energy sources from contributing to the electricity market in Colombia, mainly in its non-interconnected areas. The energy sources analysed are solar photovoltaic power, wind power, biomass, geothermal and small hydroelectric power (less than 20 MW electricity). Obstacles and energy alternatives are included in an assessment model by means of Analytical Network Process. The method permits ranking the barriers and energy sources according to their influence in the network. That means, the more conflictive the obstacles and the more obstructed the energy sources, the higher their values. Four experts participated in the procedure representing different stakeholders in the electricity market of Colombia. The research showed the most important barriers are costs of investment and operating, lack of public and private coordination and lack of development planning for renewable energy sources. The most influenced (hindered by barriers) sources are wind power and geothermal power. However, the experts did not fully agree on those results and differences are discussed. The paper ends with some recommendations for overcoming the main obstacles against the participation of renewable energy sources in the Colombian electricity market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The negative environmental impacts associated to the use of large hydropower plants have helped to focus the attention on small-scale plants, which reduce these impacts considerably. In Colombia, there is an important potential for the implementation of both, large and small-scale hydropower projects, which has been exploited mostly in large plants. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the present situation of small hydropower (SHP) in Colombia, including current installed capacity and existing potential of hydro-energy resources. In addition, the paper presents the barriers that hinder the proliferation of SHP in the country, the main perspectives for future developments and the corresponding conclusions of the analysis performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we estimate the potential marine energy available from different types of resources in Colombia: waves, tides, currents, salinity gradients and thermal gradients, focussing on specific locations. The main constraint on this analysis is the lack of long-term marine instrumentation and data. In order to overcome this difficulty, we use oceanic numerical modelling with data from reanalysis models, climatic data from remote sensors, and primary data from existing instrumentation and fieldwork. The models were calibrated and run to calculate—based on existing marine systems—the potential nationwide marine power resources, on different time and spatial scales, for both the Colombian Caribbean and Pacific coasts. For each marine resource, we first explain the method used to assess the power potential; then we present the potential marine energy result. Further, we carry out a policy analysis where we discuss not only the power potential but also the barriers (mainly cost) faced by marine energy. Given the potentials found by earlier studies, these results define for Colombia, and also for Central and South America generally, the road map for future pre-feasibility analysis, taking into account the energy demands of the populations, existing technologies, and the environmental, social and geographical characteristics of the regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]