CIGRE National Committee of Colombia

XM contacted the leading companies and universities around the country and he founder members are:
CIDET ,HART, PHC, MVM, IEB, CNO, UTP, UPB, UNAL, TRANSELCA, INTERNEXA, ISA, Consultoría Colombiana, EPM, INTERCOLOMBIA, and XM.

Finally, on March 2^nd, 2018 the first assembly was held to create CIGRE Colombia with the presence of all the 106 members. In 2018 we were informed by the Paris Central Office that Colombia had been accepted as a National Committee.

Having a National Committee was seen as an excellent opportunity to increase the collaborative work of the whole sector in order to strengthen the electricity system and make it more sustainable.

The first results of all of the CIGRE Colombia’s activities came soon, and that is how in May 2018, CIGRE Colombia organised and hosted the first Ibero-American CIGRE – SIAC seminar, an event that unveiled the new National Committee.

During its three years of existence, the number of members has grown significantly and today there are 169 members (including 30 students). The strategy used to keep the committee active and to increase the numbers has been focused around technical lectures, which are open to the public, and with topics of interest to the sector. These are given by local and/or international experts, along with disclosure of the benefits of belonging to CIGRE. This strategy has also been applied to the advertisements for the creation of new Study Committees and even more closely involves the universities, professors, and students inviting them to join CIGRE.

The different initiatives have obtained excellent results: it has grown by about 60% in the number of members, has opened 9 Study Committees, which have 26 local active Working Groups and 5 technical documents have already been written, achieving technical recommendations so that government decision-makers and the different companies have independent references and suggestions to help improve their processes.

It’s important to highlight that the divulgation strategy, where there have been over 40 academic activities, has been focused on cutting-edge topics that are transforming the electrical systems in the world: Renewable Energy Sources, Power Electronics, HVDC, Power Storage, the evolution of the protections for the interaction with Islanded Systems and Micro Grids, Digital Transformation, Resilience of the Electrical Systems, Operation and Control under Critical Conditions, the Evolution of the Energy Markets and the incorporation of new actors.

Also, The Colombian National Committee has been participating very actively in the Ibero-American CIGRE Council. Today, our National Committee President, Nohemi Arboleda, is the Technical Secretary of this Council and Mrs. Liliana Pineda, also from XM, is the Events Director.

Technical Committee: Study Committees and local Working Groups

CIGRE Colombia has been aware that after the initial enthusiasm it is necessary to have a stage of consolidation and organisation that allows for process strengthening. In 2020, taking as an example the international organisation of CIGRE about the functioning of the technical committee with its study groups, the Colombian technical committee was created with the intention of working towards the construction of a new North according to the necessities of the country’s electrical system. That is how the Technical Committee has the responsibility of strategic planning, where they analyse, evaluate, and prioritise the important topics for Colombia, which should be addressed by the different local Study Committees and that should motivate the creation of local working Groups that are focused on searching for answers and solutions said identified topics.

The Technical Committee of CIGRE Colombia is made up of each of the chairs of the different local Study Committees and is the backbone that will sustain all the academic activities, divulgation, and study of our community.

Its main functions are:

• To draw up a Strategic Plan of academic activities for the local Study Committees;
• Propose the dissolution or creation of local Study Committees;
• Selecting the preferred themes for CIGRE Colombia events;
• To supervise the work of the local Study Committees;
• Approve local Working Groups;
• Conduct studies related to the operation of local Study Committees;
• To investigate the needs of the electricity industry in the country.

CIGRE Colombia has 9 local Study Committees, their respective contacts are available on the CIGRE Colombia website.

Study Committees and Active local Working Groups 2021

CIGRE Colombia is aware that a key ingredient for the sustainability of our National Committee is to have young members that contribute with new and fresh outlooks, and it created the Colombian “Next Generation Network” – NGN - which today has 16 members.

 

Strategic Plan CIGRE Colombia 2021-2031

The Strategic plan of CIGRE Colombia proposed by the local Technical Committee 2021, is a document that is born of the analysis of the current needs of the country and is in line with the global energy transformation that allows sustainable development. On the other hand, this document is developed according to the presented National Energy Plan (NEP) 2020-2050, where the long-term vision for the Colombian energy sector and the ways to achieve it, is defined.

There are four areas of focus within the Strategic Plan, all of which will be worked on by the different Study Committees and their Working Groups with the aim of targeting the requirements and needs of the country:

1. FOCUS 1. The future of electrical power systems: 22 lines of approach
2. FOCUS 2. Environment and sustainability: 17 lines of approach
3. FOCUS 3. Competitively, economic development, and market structure: 14 lines of approach
4. FOCUS 4. Knowledge management and innovation: 31 lines of approach

Figure 1 shows the amount of lines of approach for each Study Committee. It’s important to note that the Study Committees have not yet started working in CIGRE Colombia, but it has been proposed and is expected to happen in the short term, which is the reason why they are included in the focus groups.

Figure 2 shows the amount of focus in which each Study Committee is involved. It’s important to highlight that the committee C4 is participating in all of the thematic focuses of the Strategic plan 2021-2031.

At the high-level CIGRE Colombia, we are keen to organize an international symposium, for which we will strengthen our National Committee along all the topics discussed previously and will focus on motivating and attracting young members and students via the NGN, so we can assure the continuity of CIGRE for many years to come.

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Thumbnail & Banner: Photo by Joel Duncan on Unsplash