Co-creation Methodologies for Designing Bottom-up Solar Energy Communities: a Case Study From Colombia Metodologías de Co-Creación para Diseñar Comunidades Energéticas Solares de Abajo Hacia Arriba: caso de Estudio Colombia

Resumen

Energy communities are collective clean energy generation schemes in which citizens organize to generate, store and manage distributed energy resources, mainly solar power. Although there are few energy communities in the Latin American context compared to the number of cases reported in Europe, there is a particular interest in exploring governance models for community self-consumption from grid-connected solar energy sources that consider local cultural conditions. This paper describes a co-creation methodology based on various existing techniques to be used as a tool for designing bottom-up energy community models. This proposal integrates two problem-solving techniques: design thinking and the 4D model. The methodology was tested in collaborative creation workshops, both with stakeholders and residents of Comuna 13 in Medellín, Colombia, to identify the elements for creating a solar energy community in the Colombian context, ensuring economic and social sustainability. As a result, the participants defined an operating scheme for the solar community that included: a governance and decision-making model, participation commitments, identity strategies, communication, education, and a community fund to share energy surplus benefits. It was evident that trust and engagement between facilitators and communities, along with energy education strategies in the participatory management of community projects, are essential for building successful collaborative solar communities.