(633c) Decision Methodology for the Conceptual Design of a Sustainable Energy Supply System for the Leticia Campus of Universidad Nacional De Colombia.

In order to ensure the future energy security and deal with the scarce coverage in some rural areas around the world, the decentralized model of energy generation has emerged as a solution to provide electricity to those non-connected areas. However, in most of the cases it leads to a dependency on a unique energy source, generally from fossil origin. Thus, it is necessary to change the paradigm of energy generation by modifying the energy matrix adding more sustainable sources.

Unfortunately, there is not a well-defined route to establish which energy sources should be linked and in what way for this type of isolated systems. Restructuring the energy matrix is a very complex problem involving sustainability criteria in the decision-making process. Nevertheless, frequently, decisions are made only considering the economic or technical dimensions, ignoring the other dimensions such as environmental, social and political, which could provide a more contextualized perspective.

The aim of this study is to develop and test a methodology to find an optimal arrangement of energy sources in a decentralized electricity production model considering all sustainability dimensions. A methodology as the proposed in this work can support the stakeholders during the planning stages of energy supply systems. The proposed methodology consists of several phases. Initially, on a first stage, an assessment of three filters allows the decision maker to be involved in the specific context of the project. First, the potential in renewable energies is estimated, second, some viability heuristics are implemented and, third, the environmental and regulatory limitations are included. Subsequently, in the second stage of the methodology, an exhaustive review of literature is carried out in order to identify all the dimensions and criteria used on related studies. With this information, needs analysis is used as a tool to select adapted indicators consistent with context. After that, a multi-criteria decision-making method is employed to determine an energy arrangement using the preferences obtained from stakeholders involved identifying a list of suitable technologies. Finally, historical data are used to establish the parameters, initial conditions and restrictions for the application of an optimization model in order to propose an operating scheme for the technologies previously obtained.

The methodology was applied to one a specific case in Colombia. In that Country the interconnected system covers most of the population demand, but in many areas where electricity cannot be distributed on-site generators are employed due to the difficulty of access. One of these is the municipality of Leticia, capital and largest city of the Amazonas department. This city has grown in recent years due to a rise in tourism demand. In this work, the entire city is not contemplated but as a case study, the campus Amazonia of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia located there was taken.