Let’s illuminate the slopes

The hillside movement is an articulation of community and neighborhood organizations in the city of Medellín, which have joined together to defend and  transform the territory. In previous years, the organization has worked on actions that allow them to claim their right to the city.

After the pandemic, the need to generate autonomy processes in the territories was identified, due to the low acceptance of the local government to the community proposals, this led to the development of the Popular School of Autonomies -EPA- which has as its axis the energy autonomy, this process is promoted in the neighborhood El Pacifico of commune 8.

The experience consists of a community energy generation system based on the recharging of a battery built with batteries from disused laptop computers, which stores energy to power lights in the neighborhood public space.

In the first stage of the EPA (2020 -2021), the aim was to generate a prototype composed of an autonomous system that stores community-based energy and other prototypes can be manufactured, which can be adapted to the conditions of the contexts of each territory. 

The goal of the process was to share its experience with the residents of the Pacifico neighborhood and other neighboring neighborhoods by 2021, in order to promote energy autonomy initiatives. Around the process, we also want to generate reflections around the energy supply in the neighborhoods of Medellin, which in some cases are due to the impossibility of paying public services, as well as to relate these struggles with those of territorial defense of peasant communities that resist, in order to find common logics and purposes.

Technical characteristics of the proposal

This community-based process seeks support from engineering professionals who are part of social movements and who develop experimental research in which prototypes are built that can be improved at larger scales or replicated on hillsides.

The first prototype uses the potential energy from the overflow of a tank of the old community aqueduct, which drains into the La Rafita stream that crosses the neighborhood through the center. The overflow water is conducted about 10 meters through PVC pipe (1.5 inches), to increase the flow speed this water will move a small turbine of recycled materials; this process generates an electromagnetic field that works with the automobile alternator.

The energy is conducted through a wiring of approximately 50 linear meters, which goes to a battery made with cells recovered from disused laptop batteries: these batteries were recovered through a collection campaign in Medellín and neighboring municipalities; the battery will power the lights of the community action board’s headquarters and reduce dependence on energy from the interconnected system.

The system was installed in the El Pacifico neighborhood and was expected to be ready by October 2020. Other forms of generation (wind and mechanical) continue to be worked on at the Escuela Popular de Autonomías.

Productive, community, environmental, or economic processes or activities that were positively impacted by the implementation of the community experience of TEJ.

For years, neighborhood processes focused on the supply of basic services such as electricity. These struggles went through different moments of informal collection of energy from electricity grids and organizational processes associated with the enforceability of public utilities.

The response given by the electricity companies was based on prepaid energy, where the user previously purchases an amount of energy before being used and not through the guarantee of the right; in this sense, despite having good availability of the service, access implies an important proportion of the family income to purchase the energy service.

This situation was exacerbated in the context of covid-19, in which family income decreased, generating an economic crisis that had a direct impact on energy supply, to the point of having many families disconnected from the service.

Although this stage of the process seeks to generate a prototype to be used in public and community spaces, it is expected that it can be scaled as a solution at the household level and for different economic initiatives in the territory.

Women’s participation in the TEJ community experience

The participation of women in the community experience is fundamental, as they are the ones who work to maintain the collective fabric and frame the importance of sovereignty and a good relationship with nature, which is manifested in the «appropriate use of resources» based on dialogues of care and reciprocity.

The leadership and spokesperson role of some women is recognized, specifically in the improvement and consolidation of the neighborhood, as well as in leadership roles in the Community Action Board; they have begun to position themselves in spaces traditionally occupied by men.

Impact of the community experience of TEJ on public policy

1. Sustainable development goals: «Affordable and clean energy», «Sustainable cities and communities» and «Climate action».
2. National development plan «Pact for Colombia, pact for equity» (Law 1955 of May 25, 2019) in the program called «pact for the quality and efficiency of public services».
3. Departmental development plan «united for life» (ordinance 06 of June 16, 2020) in the program «Antioquia, sustainable habitat».
4. Municipal development plan «Medellín futuro» (agreement 02 of 2020) in the program «housing, sustainable habitat and integral improvement of neighborhoods».