IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2017 - 74

does not exist at all. Due to the geographic conditions
of Colombia, renewable resources are an excellent
option for developing electricity service. This paper
establishes a methodology to bring new technologies
for electricity access to isolated areas, and to ensure the
sustainability of rural electrification projects. We use as
a case study the results obtained from the project "Electrification for cold chains and access to information and
communications technology in Calle Santa Rosa indigenous reserve." Calle Santa Rosa is located in the rural
area of Cauca department in Colombia. This project
implemented a production process based on a solar
power system that today generates income and welfare
for the community. The arrival of the electricity service
has allowed children and young people to use information technology and communications (ICT) in the
learning process, which undoubtedly increases the competitiveness of this region. Colombia is in an historic
moment due to the agreement signed between the
national government and the guerillas, and one of the
main challenges to solve is access to basic services
(electricity and potable water) for people living in rural
areas. The ideas presented in this paper allow achievement of this goal.
There is universal consensus that electrification is
vital for the development of rural areas in developing
countries [1]. It is clear that the absence of electricity
stops economic development. In contrast, industrialized countries have shown significant progress in this
area. For example, China appears to succeed in electricity and rural development [2]. Many problems continue for greater coverage in the service of electricity
in rural areas, especially in developing countries. One
of the main reasons for this is the absence of government support for rural development [3]. However, multiple technological projects, born in research centers
and universities, have appeared [4]-[7]. Recently, the
engineering profession has been increasing the number of projects that have a clear social approach [5],
[8]. The term Humanitarian Engineering has appeared
[9], [10]. In Colombia socially beneficial technologies
have been addressed from the public and private sectors with considerable interest. In particular, universities have been ver y committed to this kind of
development, generating changes in the curriculum of
different faculties of engineering, in order to create a
sense of social responsibility in future engineers. In
the specific case of the Faculty of Engineering at La
Salle University (Bogotá-Colombia), the school has
created the academic space of social practice, where
the students learn about needs a community can
have and provide solutions to cover or solve them. To
work with communities has been one of the great
challenges facing engineering in Colombia. Beyond

the technical knowledge required, engineers need to
acquire skills to create sustainable solutions in rural
areas. Engineers must understand sustainability goals
as being a project's ability to take advantage of natural resources, and to preserve those resources for
future generations.
Ensuring sustainability in projects requires a process of technology transfer and social appropriation
of knowledge, in which communities feel included
and part of the solution. The Faculty of Engineering at
La Salle University joined other academic programs to
develop a project in a rural area in Colombia installing a photovoltaic solar generation system for an
indigenous community. The energy of this system will
be used for the general benefit of the community, and
it must generate resources for its maintenance and
expansion. The community now has 24-hour electricity service in their school, allowing improvedlearning
capabilities. Likewise, each house on the reserve has
a solar lamp, allowing more study hours for children
and for women to make their crafts until late at night.
The project has served as a case study to analyze
how rural electrification projects help to improve the
living conditions for people in isolated areas, and
how such projects can achieve sustainability by
involving social aspects.

Non-Interconnected Zones
Law 855 of 2003 in Colombia recognizes all municipalities or locations that are not connected to the
National Interconnected System (SIN) as Non-Interconnected Zones (ZNI). According to the Institute of Planning and Energy Solutions for Non-Interconnected
Zones (IPSE), the isolated zones in Colombia are equivalent to 52% of the country. These are approximately
1400 locations, characterized by low payment capacity, low average level of consumption, and high costs of
providing electricity service, among other factors. Likewise, the communities living in these areas have major
holdings of ethnic minorities (indigenous, Afro-Colombians and native islanders), so a social and economic
characterization is required prior to implementation of
any project.
As a case study, this paper discusses the work
developed in theCalle Santa Rosa Indigenous Reservation, located in a rural area of the municipality of Timbiqui, Cauca department in Colombia. In this area, as
in many other isolated zones, residents lacked power
to cover basic needs such as lighting, water pumping,
and electrification, as well as other community needs
such as food cooling and lighting for the school or
health centers. Figure 1 and 2 shows an overview of
the typical houses of the indigenous reservation Calle
Santa Rosa.

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

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DECEMBER 2017

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