By Stiven Arias Henao and Juan Diego Restrepo Toro – Communications Office

With an impact in 11 departments, the Energy Sustainability for Colombia alliance (abbreviated SÉNECA) aims to achieve a more efficient use of energy and to diversify the energy offer of the country through the development and adaptation of new sustainable technologies based on renewable sources: solar, small-scale hydraulic, hydrokinetics, agroenergy, wind power, or synthetic natural gas.

Photo: Panel located on the roof of UdeA’s University Research Headquarters.

Therefore, the SÉNECA alliance proposes to diversify power generation in Colombia through the use of non-conventional renewable energy sources, advances in energy storage, smart networks, and biomass reclaiming (ruminal content, pig manure, urban waste, and waste from cane harvesting).

To achieve this, SÉNECA will conduct phenomenological research, develop technology, and transfer technology to the production sector in the two challenges identified by the Colombia Científica program: efficient energy use and source diversification.

For instance, Universidad de Pamplona leads the design, simulation, and construction of a wind generator prototype for low wind speed. According to Elkin Flórez, leader of the research group in Mechanical Engineer (abbreviated GIMUP), they seek to use biocomposite material based on Colombian natural fibers to develop this prototype.

The prototype will improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of areas such as Catatumbo, in Norte de Santander, Colombia, who have been affected by factors such as violence or exclusion caused by the distant geographical location from urban centers.

Some initiatives

This project will be led by the Group of Science and Technology of Gases and Rational Use of Energy, GASURE. Its purpose is to make the most of the electricity excess produced by renewable sources, such as solar or wind energy, turning it into hydrogen, which can be mixed with carbon dioxide—produced by carbon oxy-combustion. This will favor the proper use of this negative-impact chemical compound on the global greenhouse effect as well as the convergence of renewable and conventional energy sources.

This macro-project intends to use the energy potential of the grass waste that livestock ingested before slaughter. Technology will be developed to retrieve, treat, and use the material to obtain heat through combustion as a source of technical energy.

The purpose is to synthetically convert organic waste from agro-industrial waste and waste water plants into methane, i.e. natural gas, in combination with industrial carbon dioxide emissions.

“This new model of analysis combines different tools and elements—states Juan Camilo Villegas, member of the Research Group in Engineering and Environmental Management (abbreviated GIGA in Spanish), which will lead the macro-project—. Our purpose is to conduct the best assessment to determine the environmental impact and the economic feasibility of the alternatives produced by the program and compare them to traditional alternatives of power generation in Colombia.”

1. Smart management and integration of renewable energy sources to favor energy sustainability.

3. Improved production of synthetic natural gas from organic waste and industrial emissions of carbon dioxide through gasification and methanation reactions.

4. Energy storage systems for intermittent generation sources based on secondary lithium-ion and hydrogen batteries.

5. Small-scale power generation using hydraulic and hydrokinetic turbines.

6. Strategies of dual gaseous and liquid fuel supply in semi-heavy vehicles of the Colombian transportation sector for the increase of energy efficiency and the reduction of pollutants.

7. Methodology for the planning, management, and operation of electric micro-networks adapted to the Colombian regional context, based on multi-purpose and multi-criterion analysis, under uncertainty and real-time conditions.

8. National development of cutting-edge photovoltaic solar technology and implementation of high performance systems for the Colombian climate conditions.

9. Energy assessment of urban and agro-industrial solid waste.

10. Assessment of densification processes of agricultural waste from sugar cane harvesting suitable for use as renewable energy source.

11. Adjustment, escalation, and assessment in conditions of production industrial processes of advanced combustion systems of high energy efficiency and low emissions.

12. Design, simulation, and construction of a wind generator prototype for low wind speed using biocomposite material based on Colombian natural fibers.

14. Development of a power-to-gas system in the context of renewable and conventional energy sources available in La Guajira.

SÉNECA’s purpose is to integrate these initiatives to find clean, renewable fuels that reduce polluting emissions and favor the partial replacement of fossil fuels.