Initiative for the Inclusive Development of Renewable Energy in La Guajira – IDEAR Guajira

Colombia is at a critical moment for renewable energy expansion, particularly in La Guajira region. La Guajira has an untapped world-class wind resource. There, about 30 wind farms are projected to be built in the next years (over 40 wind farms by 2034), along with new overhead high-voltage power lines and other necessary infrastructure. La Guajira is also home to the Wayuu Indigenous Peoples, representing over half of the region’s population, and many wind projects and related infrastructure overlap their territory.

As in many parts of the world, the implementation of wind projects in La Guajira presents high potential for social conflict, given justice and equity concerns over aspects including social and cultural impact management, benefit-sharing, conflicts over land use and the legitimacy of consultation processes. These issues have led to project delays and cancelations caused by various blockades and protests. The Colombian national government is committed to the continued development of wind energy in La Guajira and reach agreements that allow projects to move forward, in alignment with the Just Energy Transition Roadmap.

SEI has carried out extensive research and fieldwork on this topic in La Guajira, including visits to communities surrounding wind park locations, workshops with members of indigenous communities, interviews with industry associations and key developers, meetings with local, regional, and national government representatives, and a literature review of each of the projects in their different phases. Our findings point to a series of enabling factors for social acceptance of wind energy projects in La Guajira, including facilitating information access and identifying and strengthening regional institutional capacities and participants in consultation processes.

IDEAR consists of 4 components:

• Observatory for information access: Anajia Guajira is a permanent reference site where all territorial actors can find comprehensive, reliable, up-to-date, and easily accessible information of wind projects in order to monitor economic, social, environmental, and cultural implications. We also collaborate with the Mining and Energy Planning Unit in the development of Geovisor Guajira.
• Training programme for community advisors: aims at providing theoretical, methodological, and practical tools to balance the asymmetry of power and for effective representation of local interests during consultation processes.
• Support public sector decision-making: dissemination activities with public officials at different levels on the findings and policy implications of existing research on social acceptance of renewables in La Guajira and beyond.
• International peer-to-peer learning networks: spaces that facilitate the exchange of information and previous experiences among local actors within their own territory and beyond. SEI is a core partner of the Global South Alliance for a Just Transition to Renewable Energy (JustRE).