Colombia’s energy transition is receiving a quiet but powerful push from the sugarcane belt. In northern Cauca, bagasse, the fibrous residue left after extracting juice from cane, has become the core fuel of a cogeneration model that supplies electricity to factories and sends surplus power to the national grid. That rural energy now helps stabilize supply while cutting emissions.
The complex operates with one principle: nothing is wasted. Cane arrives from fields harvested with 100% mechanized techniques, without pre‑harvest burning, which leaves more biomass available at the mill. Stalks become sugar and bioethanol, while bagasse feeds high‑pressure boilers that generate steam for turbines in a cogeneration scheme, where one renewable input yields heat and power.
Sugarcane waste, a pillar of rural energy in Colombia
In 2024, the plant generated 352 GWh of electricity and has the capacity to inject up to 32 GWh per month into the National Interconnected System, enough to supply an intermediate city of about 300,000 inhabitants. In a historically deficit region, each locally produced kilowatt reduces transmission losses and strengthens system reliability.
Seasonal patterns turn this rural energy into a counterweight to hydroelectric stress. During dry periods, river flows decline, and Colombia’s largely hydro‑based matrix comes under pressure. At the same time, sugarcane yields improve in the sun and cogeneration output rises, offering firmer support precisely when the grid needs it most.
Between 2018 and 2023, sector investments of around US$62.6 million upgraded boilers, turbines, and interconnection infrastructure, making Cauca’s complex the largest bagasse‑based cogenerator in the Colombian sugar sector. The project operates under Law 1715, which promotes nonconventional renewables and grants tax incentives to projects that pass rigorous environmental and regulatory screening.
Beyond electricity: Biofuels and circular economy
The same rural energy logic extends to fuels. Linked distilleries produce up to 120 million liters of bioethanol per year, a biofuel blended with gasoline nationwide. By displacing part of fossil gasoline, this mix reduces greenhouse gas emissions and helps improve urban air quality, especially in large cities where vehicle fleets are dense.
Colombia’s sugarcane corridor is also testing new uses for by‑products. Companies are exploring biogas from vinasse, a liquid residue from ethanol distillation, as well as biomethane (refined biogas suitable for pipelines) and even sustainable aviation fuels derived from biomass.
Meanwhile, early initiatives in green hydrogen, produced using renewable power rather than fossil gas, signal a broader effort to diversify low‑carbon energy carriers.
Those figures show how local practices sustain economic value from what used to be waste under climate and market stress. Rural energy, in this case, means turning each ton of cane into multiple revenue streams: electricity, fuels, fertilizers, and social programs that remain anchored in the territory.
#Economía | El bagazo que enciende la transición energética en Colombiahttps://t.co/OFZB5EtkQ6
— Revista Semana (@RevistaSemana) February 17, 2026
Rural energy as a social engine and policy test
The bagasse‑based model also acts as a social stabilizer. More than 3,200 jobs depend directly on the operation, and benefits in 2024 exceeded US$65 million, including wages, supplier contracts, and community programs.
The company finances an internal school with six decades of history, university scholarships, and vocational alliances with SENA, alongside sports schools that serve around 1,400 children and teenagers each year.
Projects such as “Lo Mejor de Nuestra Tierra”, developed with Nasa Indigenous communities in Miranda, illustrate how rural energy links to territorial development.
By shifting from illicit crops to blackberry farming, families have doubled harvest volumes and tripled income against their baseline, demonstrating that legal agriculture connected to industrial buyers can change local economies. Even so, structural market barriers limit scale; the next section explains the policy gaps.
Specialists warn that this success does not remove structural constraints. Sugar prices, land concentration, and dependence on a single crop create risks, especially under climate change scenarios that may alter rainfall and pest patterns. Environmental groups also call for strict monitoring of water use and biodiversity impacts in cane regions, to ensure that rural energy does not come at the expense of ecosystems.
Colombia’s bagasse story shows both the potential and the limits of field‑based renewables. On one hand, rural energy from cane already backs the grid, reduces emissions, and funds education and inclusion in vulnerable areas.
On the other hand, its expansion will test how Colombia manages land‑use conflicts, diversifies crops, and aligns industrial projects with long‑term climate and social goals rather than short‑term output alone.