Energy Communities: Chapter 9 - Cost-sharing mechanisms in energy communities

Energy communities (EC) serve as a partial solution to the intractable problems of multidimensional and monetary poverty, especially when considering the positive social impacts of ECs on reducing energy poverty (EP). In Latin America, Colombia is a useful point of analysis to understand the social impact of ECs due to the increase in EC policies and regulations over the last few years. However, Colombia faces the difficulty of implementing ECs, due to its multicultural context that requires situation-specific approaches. In Colombia, local entities create ethnically focused methodologies to reduce social gaps in territories, above all indigenous territories with high levels of EP. This chapter illustrates the complexity of two such cases of ECs in the context of the Wayúu indigenous peoples of La Guajira, Colombia, whose territory holds some of the highest potential for renewable energy development in Colombia.