Colombia One
Summary
Colombia’s energy transition is receiving a quiet but powerful push from the sugarcane belt. In northern Cauca, bagasse, the fibrous residue left after extracting juice from cane, has become the core fuel of a cogeneration model that supplies electricity to factories and sends surplus power to the national grid. That rural energy now helps stabilize supply while cutting emissions.
The complex operates with one principle: nothing is wasted. Cane arrives from fields harvested with 100% mechanized techniques, without pre‑harvest burning, which leaves more biomass available at the mill. Stalks become sugar and bioethanol, while bagasse feeds high‑pressure boilers that generate steam for turbines in a cogeneration scheme, where one renewable input yields heat and power.
In 2024, the plant generated 352 GWh of electricity and has the capacity to inject up to 32 GWh per month into the National Interconnected System, enough to supply an intermediate city of about 300,000 inhabitants.
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