In Colombia, approximately 500,000 housing units have no access to electricity. The Colombian government has been working for 20 years to equip households with photovoltaic solutions through solar electrification projects.
Supported by Agence française de développement (AFD), the government mandated GRET and its partners Energía Sin Fronteras and Valoración Económica Ambiental to evaluate the impact of these projects with a specific focus on gender, and to formulate recommendations on the national energy policy.
The objective was to measure the impact of these photovoltaic solutions on households, public services (in particular healthcare and education centres) and economic activities. Particular attention was given to different impacts on men and women. The teams also evaluated the dimensioning of these solutions, and examined pricing of the service to ascertain whether it is adequate. The evaluation covered 14 projects in 8 municipalities with different geographic, socio-economic and cultural contexts.
The results of the evaluation made it possible to draw up recommendations on the country’s energy policy with the state energy bodies and AFD.
