1
An Appraisal of the Challenges and
Opportunities for the Colombia Inteligente
Program Implementation
R. Céspedes, Senior Member, IEEE, R. A. León, Senior Member, IEEE, H. Salazar, Member, IEEE,
M. E. Ruiz, Member, IEEE, R. Hidalgo, Member, IEEE, and D. Mejia, Student Member, IEEE
Abstract-- The Colombia Inteligente (Smart Colombia)
Initiative is a non-governmental program whose objective is to
establish different strategies for a successful implementation of
smart grid technology in a Colombia. The program started in
November 2009 and has developed a conceptual basis for the next
years to come. A critical factor in the success of the Colombia
Inteligente Program is to identify the drivers for smart grid
implementation based on the country needs and expectations.
Environmental concerns, increasing electricity consumption,
security of energy supply, aging infrastructure and significant
advances in communication and information technologies have
been identified as major drivers for smart grid deployments
worldwide. Some of these drivers might not be the focal aspects
for smart grid in developing countries. This paper introduces
how the Smart Colombia Initiative is conceptualized and
analyses different drivers that provide opportunities for its
implementation.
Index Terms-- Smart Grid Technology, Colombia Inteligente
(Smart Colombia), Smart Grid Drivers
I. INTRODUCTION
T he common assumption worldwide is that the
development of smart grid (SG) technology follows the
need for solving environmental concerns, increasing electricity
consumption, security of energy supply and aging
infrastructure. Those issues, coupled with the significant
advances in communication and information technologies,
establish a distinctive framework for a successful introduction
of the smart grid concept to mainstream utilization in USA
and Europe [1]. However, some of these drivers might not be
the drivers for a successful implementation of smart grids in
developing countries. Access to energy sources and gross
domestic product per capita are examples of areas with
substantial differences, which indicate the need to carefully
examine the real drivers for smart grid introduction in a
developing country like Colombia. These differences indicate
R. Céspedes is with RConsulting Group, Bogotá, Colombia (e-mail:
renato.cespedes@rcgsas.com).
R. A. León and M. E. Ruiz are with XM S.A. E.S.P, Medellín, Colombia
(e-mail: {raleon}{meruiz}@xm.com.co).
H. Salazar is with Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Pereira, Colombia
(e-mail: hsi@utp.edu.co)
R. Hidalgo is with Empresas Públicas de Medellín – EPM, Medellín,
Colombia (e-mail: Rodrigo.Hidalgo@epm.com.co)
D. Mejia is with Iowa State University and with Universidad de Antioquia
(e-mail: diegomej@iastate.edu)
978-1-4673-2729-9/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE
that a careful examination of the real drivers for smart grid
introduction in a developing country like Colombia need to be
evaluated.
Colombia Inteligente (Smart Colombia) is private initiative
to support and coordinate the penetration of smart grid
technology to the country. The initiative has made progress in
identifying potential application of the technology provided by
smart grids on the lights of country’s need. In order to
contribute to the Colombia Inteligente initiative, this paper
analyses what drivers might provide a business incentive for
smart grid in Colombia. This paper is organized as follows.
Section II describes the Colombia Inteligente (Smart
Colombia) initiative. It provides details of how the program
has been conceived and conceptualized. Since natural
resources and market design provide opportunities and barriers
for smart grid penetration, section III describes the Colombian
electric system and the main characteristics of the electricity
market. Section IV provides some thoughts about the drivers
that can provide opportunities for Colombia Inteligente
implementation. Finally, conclusions are in section V.
II. THE COLOMBIA INTELIGENTE INITIATIVE
Colombia Inteligente, or Smart Colombia, is an initiative to
support and coordinate the efforts to solve specific SG related
challenges by introducing new technologies and solutions for
a countrywide implementation of smart grid projects. The
initiative also aims to accompany the technological evolution
of the electric industry in Colombia and other strategic sectors
that are relevant to the country, i.e., transportation and
construction. Fig. 1 shows a conceptual framework for
Colombia Inteligente showing the involved sectors and
subsectors and the involved SG elements that are identified for
each one.
As mentioned, the objective of the initiative is to support
and coordinate different efforts to promote smart grid
implementation. Information sharing, guidance to project
development and close cooperation have been identifies as
fundamental aspects for successful implementation. As for
information sharing, the initiative has created a web page
(http://www.colombiainteligente.com.co) and is developing a
virtual community based on social media tools. On the other
hand, as for guidance to project development, the initiative is
working for designing a collective road map, evaluation
metrics and development strategies for smart grid projects. It
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is also working in conjunction with ICONTEC (The

Colombian National Standards Body) and with NIST in order
to provide standards for adequate interoperability in line with
the international efforts. In the same line, the initiative is
working to propose a policy framework for smart grid
implementation in the country. Finally, as for close
cooperation, Colombia Inteligente has brought together
universities and companies in the key sectors with two main
objectives: 1) To build a comprehensive list of smart grid
projects that are being developed in the country, and 2) to
promote new projects with the participation of utilities,
industry and universities. It is expected that close cooperation
can improve the probabilities of success of the projects and
minimize the pilot project costs.
Fig. 2. Colombia Inteligente proposed actions

Fig. 1. The Colombia Inteligente conceptual framework

Fig. 3. Survey results

Fig. 2 shows the main fields of action (blue ring) that

Colombia Inteligente has proposed to dedicate concrete efforts
for smart grid implementation in the electric sector. They have
been established to achieve higher levels of efficiency and
sustainability of the national electrical system and ensuring a
reliable and secure operation of the system (purple ring). The
green ring represents all resources that are needed to achieve
the goals.
Fig. 3 shows the main results of a survey that are
synthetized in Fig. 2 that was conducted with the input of
different actors.
It is worth mentioning that the promoters of this initiative
are XM (The Colombian Power System operator and market
administrator), CIDET (Electrical Sector Research Center),
COCIER (Colombian branch of CIER), CNO (National
Operation Council), CAC (Commercialization Advisor
Committee) and CINTEL (Communications Research Center).
These promoters have held various meetings and workshops
and they realize the necessity to work together to maximize
the benefits of the new technology. It is expected that the
initiative provides a solid foundation for the smart grid
development in the country.
III. THE COLOMBIAN ELECTRIC ENERGY SYSTEM AND ITS
ELECTRIC ENERGY MARKET
Colombia has a hydro-dominated electricity market.
Roughly speaking, 70% of its energy and 64% (8,525 MW) of
its capacity come from hydro resources, with the remainder
supplied by thermal generation plants. Thermal generation is
mostly gas-based generation (4,089 MW) and located near gas
reservoirs in the Northwestern region.
The Colombian wholesale electricity market, MEM for its
Spanish name, came about after the enactment of the 142 and
143 laws of 1994 (Public Utilities Law and Electricity Law,
respectively). The laws wanted to introduce more competition
among agents and create solid institutions that would take
charge of all the aspects of the sector.
The current wholesale power market consists mainly of
three components:
1. A daily real time market: It is a spot energy market with a
single-zone hourly price. That is, there is one energy price
for the whole system that is calculated in an hourly basis.
The price is determined based on the intersection between
aggregated generation bids and demand and ignoring all
transmission constraints (infinite grid capacity).

2. A bilateral contract market: It is a market in which
generators and electricity suppliers sell and purchase
energy at freely negotiated prices and quantities. This
market is fundamentally financial.
3. A firm energy market: A market designs to ensure that
there will be sufficient energy resources, particularly in
exceptionally dry periods.
As mentioned, the market is highly dependent of hydro
resources with plenty of hydro potential to be built. That is, it
estimates that the capacity of the system can be at least
duplicated only with hydroelectricity. The country also has
reserves of natural gas and coal. From this perspective,
environmental concerns might not be a potential driver for
smart grid development in Colombia.
IV. DRIVERS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SMART GRID
TECHNOLOGY IN COLOMBIA
The followings subsections describe some drivers for smart
grid implementation based on the country needs. These drivers
can be considered as opportunities for the Colombia
Inteligente program implementation.
A. Opportunities in Generation
As it has been stated before, a better understanding of
technical and economic impacts of smart grid (SG)
technologies is fundamental in order to implement such
projects in developing countries like Colombia. Most of the
drivers that are considered worldwide for the deployment of
SG projects include some form of distributed generation (DG),
especially renewable energy sources (RESs). Therefore,
generation projects that incorporates smart grids technologies
(and vice versa) should be carefully analyzed under each
country needs.
Since central power plants and transmission networks have
already controllers and communication devices in place,
except perhaps advanced protection schemes and wide area
monitoring and control, smart grid implementation brings
most opportunities at the DG level [2]. Furthermore, large-
scale integration of DG into transmission networks can be
considered now through SG technologies and concepts.
Benefits from planned DG connections at distribution and
transmission networks have been widely discussed [3-5]. In
addition, some SG technologies provide dispatch and control
capabilities that enhance such benefits [6-7].
The following are examples of generation business
opportunities that will are provided by SG technologies and
might be considered drivers in Colombia:
1. Power quality and reliability (PQ&R): DG has been used
since long time to assure PQ&R in industry and
commercial buildings, in the form of backup generators.
SG technologies enable the same function at different
points in distribution networks.
2. Technical losses: DG output controlled by SG
technologies can be used for voltage-VAR control in
order to reduce technical losses in long rural distribution
3
and sub-transmission networks. However, in such
projects, especial considerations must be made about
reliability and service continuity of the distributed
generators.
3. Service coverage: Due to areas with low population
density, long distances from the central interconnected
transmission system, and rough topography, at present in
Colombia, there is a significant portion of inhabitants
with poor or without electricity service at all. SG
technologies can group different types of distributed
energy sources (DERs) to create isolated microgrids,
providing these communities with a fairly cheap solution
and more reliable service.
4. Electricity costs: DG and cogeneration systems with
advanced controllers can help industries, commercial
buildings, and small communities to reduce energy
consumption from the main grid while reducing costs at
peak hours, shortages due to faults, network
maintenances, and even delivering electricity back to the
networks (electricity sales).
Unfortunately, as it happens in most of the developing
countries, Colombia currently does not count with a proper
regulation that enables DG and SG deployment. Although the
Colombian electricity market facilitates the connection of
small generators to the main interconnected power system,
most network (system) operators are not interested in such
integration. The lack of understanding of benefits brought by
the implementation of SG combined with generation projects,
and the few technical standards available for SG and DG
applications, are strong barriers preventing their integration,
even worldwide.
Research and development initiatives, such as the Colombia
Inteligente program, are fundamental as an initial step in order
to join efforts from utilities, universities and technology
providers, around suitable solutions for Colombia needs and
generation business opportunities.
B. Opportunities in Transmission
The Orders issued by the National Electricity and Gas
Regulatory Commission of Colombia (CREG) regarding the
transmission business, offer economic incentives for
transmission companies to maintain strict levels of asset
availability and power quality. Therefore, even though Smart
Grid technologies are not mentioned explicitly on those
orders, it is evident that those companies will try to introduce
smart grid technologies for complying with CREG’s
requirements. Some of the efforts taking place in Colombia
relate to automatic voltage control, automated event analysis,
real time asset monitoring and Asset Management projects.
Other implications of the orders regarding transmission
business in Colombia are the penalties imposed for non-
supplied energy due to contingencies in the high voltage grid.
In this sense, transmission companies are induced to engage in
efforts to develop self-healing strategies for minimize and
mitigate the impact of the events in the system.
C. Opportunities in Distribution
Non-technical loss (NTL) reduction or control of non-

technical losses has been identified as one of the most
important drivers for developing smart grid in developing
countries [8]. In Colombia and roughly speaking, the total
percentage of NTL is 20% that is considered high to
international standards. NTL are caused by theft, error in
meter reading, defective meters or a flawed billing system.
The National Electricity and Gas Regulatory Commission
of Colombia (CREG) issued on December 2011 Order No.
172-2011 regarding optimal incentive to reduce NTL in
Colombia [9]. The Commission determined that the Final Rule
would improve the operation of distribution systems as it
expected a significant reduction of NTL.
The Order basically defined a mechanism to calculate a
tariff increment to finance a loss reduction plan over five years
[10]. According to the Order, a loss reduction plan is as a set
of actions performed by utilities in order to reduce NTL. The
plan also needs to stipulate the loss level targets (total
percentage of NTL) that will be achieved every six months by
the actions specified in plan. The actions might include
replacement of old or defective meters by smart meters, theft
detection, upgrade or improved the business process
associated with NTL, etc. It is important to mention that the
plan (actions and loss level targets) is presented by the utility
to the Commission to be approved. Once accepted, the plan is
put into operation and financed by the tariff increment. The
increment is calculated based on optimization model that takes
into account successful experience of different utilities that
have reduce NTL significantly in Colombia [11]. The
increment guarantees that end users pay a fair tariff to achieve
a significant loss reduction.
According to the Order, utilities are not obligate to present
the plan and therefore request a tariff increment. In such case,
all the cost of NTL reduction is borne by the utilities and
cannot be translated to end-user via electricity tariff. This
might be the case of utilities that have already low values of
losses. On the other hand, if a utility presents a plan and it is
approved, it is obligated to fulfill the loss level targets
specified in the plan. This is likely to be the case for most of
the utilities in the country as it is difficult to reduce NTL
without additional financial resources that can be accessed via
tariff increment. The Order clearly establishes financial
penalties if targets are not fulfilled. It is expected that the tariff
increment and the financial penalties stipulates in the Order
provides enough incentives for utilities to reduce NTL in the
next five years.
Although the Order was not designed as a smart grid driver
in Colombia, it provides the necessary regulatory and financial
incentives for a successful implementation of smart grid in the
country. That is, the loss reduction plan does not limit utilities
to traditional loss reduction actions. Instead, it allows different
initiatives whose goals are exclusively to reduce NTL. This
opens the possibility to incorporate all the new technology that
is provided by the smart grids. Specifically, smart meters, new
communication technology or ambitious demand-side
management programs might be considered actions that are
part of the loss reduction plan. Hence, Colombia might be on
the verge of being a successful case of smart grid deployment
4
if utilities take advantage of the opportunities provided by the
Order.
D. Opportunities in Power System Supervision and Control
The Colombian high voltage transmission grid is supervised
today by traditional SCADA/EMS systems. This is the
standard for the industry around the world, and the
opportunities for smart grid introduction in this field are the
same regardless the level of development of any country.
Today, the supervision architecture relies on a proven design
that dates back to the 1970’s where the most expensive item
was the central computer and when communications were not
highly reliable. Today, the advanced technology for system
monitoring and control being used still relies on the same
basic architecture of star communications and centralized
computing.
Since the appearance of the new monitoring technology of
phasor measurement units (PMU) [12], there has been a boom
in research and development on how to integrate these
advancements to the current framework for supervision and
control.
The new information technologies emerging now, promise
to change the current paradigm on supervision and control in
the electric energy business. Today’s technologies allow for a
leap in the capability and quality of the monitoring equipment
in the substations and linear infrastructure. Modern
communication architectures (like cloud computing) provide a
reliable medium for exchanging monitoring information to,
from and between substations and the control center.
Additionally, new methods for analysis and control of power
systems could enable the promise for self-healing capabilities
in electric power systems, which could prevent and/or mitigate
the impacts of large scale events, like the US Blackout of 2003
and the Colombian Blackout of 2007 [13].
The ever-evolving regulation of the Colombian power
system has been pushing for more reliability and control. At
the same time, customers require cheaper costs for the electric
energy service. Additionally, Colombia is still subject to
terrorist attacks on the energy infrastructure which sometimes
take the system to alert states, reducing the margin for errors
for the operators at the control room. Therefore, there is a
constant need for improving the monitoring and control of the
system, and the new technologies associated with smart grid
fit perfectly for helping achieve this goal.
E. Opportunities in Power System Planning
All of the new developments, trends, and challenges in the
Colombian smart grid era, not only require of efficient use of
technologies and adequate standards and regulation; but also, a
carefully designed long term plan that facilitates the
implementation of smart grid initiatives.
Such a plan is responsible for providing directions of what a
smart energy sector will look like in fifteen or twenty years
from now. The guiding long-term directions, expansion of
both the transmission grid and the generation system,
determine the quality and degree of feasibility of smart grid

implementations in the country. Important objectives like
reliability, security, resilience, and sustainability of the
Colombian smart grid depend also on the effectiveness and
accurate control of the possible future scenarios related to the
local conditions. To do so, general concepts related to
flexibility and robustness are key elements for addressing
those uncertainties.
From the operation point of view, a system is flexible when
the capacity of the system can respond quickly to changes in
demand; and from the long term planning point of view, a
flexible plan is one that can be adapted in a timely and cost-
efficient way to the requirements of future scenarios [14].
On the other hand, robustness relates to the ability of the
system to handle all of the requirements of the scenarios.
Thus, an effective plan is a tradeoff between flexibility and
robustness. A very flexible plan might not be robust, but it is
cheaper than a robust strategy.
Developing countries like Colombia offer opportunities as
well as risks. To identify risks, it is important to detect the
scenario drivers (uncertainties) and the potential undesired
impacts on the system, which are reflected in the society (load
curtailments). Long term power planning involves studying
uncertainties regarding economic indicators like price
fluctuations and reserves of natural gas, coal, and oil;
economic growth and energy demand, market regulation,
variability in future meteorological conditions (hydrology) and
other renewable resources used in electricity generation. In
addition, in the smart grid era, more uncertainty sources will
be present in long term planning due to potential changes in
energy consumer behaviors (price-responsive demand),
market regulation, development of communication and
information technologies. Not only all the mentioned
examples of scenario drivers apply to the Colombian case; but
also other conditions proper of the local reality such as
terrorist attacks to the infrastructure as well as weather events
(el Nino and la Nina) etc.
In Colombian case, there are opportunities to build a power
system able to handle uncertainty through by means of
robustness and flexibility. A well-known way to achieve
robustness is diversifying the energy portfolio. Currently, the
Colombian power system is hydro-dominant, and according to
the most updated expansion plan developed by UPME
(Unidad de Planeacion Minero-Energetica) [15], it will keep
the same trend in the near future. Although it is true that
Colombia is relatively clean in terms of greenhouse gas
emissions, it is crucial to continue looking for more energy
production alternatives that are economically, socially, and
environmentally sustainable. By diversifying the energy
portfolio, all types of risks (regulation, demand behavior, fuel
reserves and prices, safety issues) are mitigated. For example,
installing more natural gas-based power plants reduces risks of
liquid fuel and coal prices volatility, and also adds flexibility
to the operation; investing reasonable capacity in renewables
such as geothermal, wind or solar might not help to the
flexibility in operation but does diminish dependency on fossil
fuel reserve and prices as well as hydrology conditions.
The simple idea of expanding the energy portfolio not only
5
works for spreading all types of risk, but also creates demand
for R+D related to penetration of current and environmentally
friendly technologies for electricity generation. All these
situations that are part of planning will lead to a more reliable,
more economical, and smarter power system operation.
Developing countries like Colombia should these new
transformation processes as a platform for creating
opportunities that will end up in the improvement of
macroeconomic indicators. We think adding these kinds of
long-term analysis in initiatives like Smart Colombia are part
of what a comprehensive smart grid is about.
F. Comments on Regulatory Issues
As mentioned in sections IV.B and IV.C, the National
Electricity and Gas Regulatory Commission of Colombia
(CREG) is a national body in charge of all regulatory aspects
of the electric sector. The commission has issued several
Orders that aim to promote an efficient operation and planning
of the electric system. Up to date, there is not a specific order
related to smart grid in the country. However, it can be
mentioned that the sprit of several Orders such as Order 070-
1998, Order 082-2002, Order 097-2008, and recently Order
172-2011 encourage different market participants (utilities,
GENCOS, TRANSCO, etc) to implement efficient
technologies in their systems. As for the non-technical loss
reduction, these orders open the possibility to incorporate the
new technology provides by smart grids.
V. CONCLUSIONS
This paper introduces the Colombia Inteligente initiative
and shows how it has been conceptualized in order to promote
the implementation of different technologies provided by
smart grids. The paper also emphasizes the importance of a
careful examination of potential drivers that might promote
the penetration of smart grids in Colombia. Different drivers
have been analyzed. They are shown as opportunities in
generation, transmission and distribution. It has been observed
that power system supervision, control, and planning also
provide interesting opportunities for smart grids penetration. A
few comments on current regulatory issues are presented as
well. Finally, it is expected that this kind of works enrich the
debate about what kind of drivers can really motivate the
penetration of SG in the country.
VI. REFERENCES
[1] Massoud Amin, S.; Wollenberg, B.F.; , "Toward a smart grid: power
delivery for the 21st century," Power and Energy Magazine, IEEE ,
vol.3, no.5, pp. 34- 41, Sept.-Oct. 2005
[2] R. Hidalgo; C. Abbey; G. Joos; "Integrating distributed generation with
Smart Grid enabling technologies," in 2011 IEEE PES Conference on
Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT Latin America), pp.1-7, 19-
21 Oct. 2011
[3] G. Joos, B. T. Ooi, D. McGillis, F. D. Galiana, and R. Marceau, "The
Potential of Distributed Generation to Provide Ancillary Services," in
IEEE Power Engineering Society Summer Meeting, 2000, 2000, pp.
1762-1767 vol. 1763.
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[4] P. A. Daly and J. Morrison, "Understanding the Potential Benefits of Colombia, in 2002, and he graduated with an M.Eng. degree from McGill
Distributed Generation on Power Delivery Systems," in Rural Electric University, Montreal, Canada, in 2011. He is currently pursuing his
Power Conference, 2001, 2001, pp. A2/1-A213. Specialization in Economics degree, at Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá,
[5] H. A. Gil and G. Joos, "Models for Quantifying the Economic Benefits Colombia.
of Distributed Generation," IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. He is presently working with Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), since
23, pp. 327-335, 2008. 2002, in Medellín, Colombia, where he is an O&M management engineer of
[6] P. Djapic, C. Ramsay, D. Pudjianto, G. Strbac, J. Mutale, N. Jenkins, power plants. His research interests include technical and economic issues of
and R. Allan, "Taking an Active Approach," IEEE Power and Energy distributed generation, renewable energy sources integration, smart grids,
Magazine, vol. 5, pp. 68-77, 2007. cost-benefit analyses, and planning and operation of power systems.
[7] S. C. E. Jupe and P. C. Taylor, "Distributed Generation Output Control
for Network Power Flow Management," IET Renewable Power Diego Mejía (M’09) received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from Universidad
Generation, vol. 3, pp. 371-386, 2009. Tecnológica de Pereira in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Currently, he is
[8] I. Camargo, “Innovative Regulation for the Development of Smart Grids pursuing his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and M.S. in Economics degrees
in Latin America,” in 2011 IEEE PES Conference on Innovative Smart from Iowa State University, Ames, IA. He is a recipient of a Fulbright
Grid Technologies (ISGT Latin America), 21 Oct. 2011. fellowship, and holds a faculty position and the Department of Electrical
[9] Comisión de Regulación de Energía y Gas (CREG). Resolución 172- Engineering from Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia. His
2011. [On line], Available: http:// http://www.creg.gov.co research interests are uncertainty modeling, optimization, and power system
[10] Comisión de Regulación de Energía y Gas (CREG). Resolución 173- economics.
2011. Resolución 173-2011. [On line], Available: http://
http://www.creg.gov.co
[11] H. Salazar, C. Gallego, G. Castañeda, A. Vargas, “An Optimal Incentive
to Reduce Non-Technical Power Losses,” to be submitted to IEEE
Transaction on Power Systems.
[12] Phadke A.G., Thorp J.S., Synchronized Phasor Measurements and Their
Applications, Springer, 2008
[13] Leon, R.A.; Gomez, J.E.;, "Colombian National Defense System against
Large Scale Events," Power and Energy Society General Meeting, 2011
IEEE , vol., no., pp.1-6, 24-29 July 2011
[14] J. H. Zhao, Z. Y. Dong, P. Lindsay, K. P. Wong, "Flexible Transmission
Expansion Planning With Uncertainties in an Electricity Market," IEEE
Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 479-488, Feb. 2009.
[15] Unidad de Planeacion Minero Energetica - UPME, "Plan Preliminar de
Expansion de Referencia de Generacion - Transmision 2011-2025,''
Ministerio de Minas y Energia, [Online], Available:
http://www.upme.gov.co

VII. BIOGRAPHIES

Renato Céspedes graduated as Electrical Engineer (1972) from the

University of the Andes (Colombia) and obtained a Doctor in Electrical
Engineering (1976) degree from the National Polytechnique Institute of
Grenoble, France. He is associate professor at the National University of
Colombia. Dr. Cespedes is presently partner and CEO of RCONSULTING
GROUP, a consulting company based in Bogotá with interest in automation,
technology and Smart Grid concepts. Dr. Cespedes retired in 2009 from
KEMA Inc. where he held the position of Director of the Latin America
operations.

Ramón León (M’08, SM’10). Ramon Leon earned his BSc degree in
Electrical Engineering from Universidad Tecnológica de Bolivar in 1997 and
his MSc degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University in 2005.
He is the Research and Development Projects Coordinator at XM S.A., the
Colombian Independent Power System Operator, where he has been since
1997. Mr. León is a Fulbright–Colciencias Scholar and Senior Member of the
IEEE. He is currently a member of the Advisory Board for the National
Energy and Mining Research Program at Colciencias. His research interests
include Power System Planning, Power System Flexibility, Smart Grid,
Advanced Supervision and Control Systems, and WAMPAC systems.

Harold Salazar (M’09) received his BEE and M.S degrees in electrical
engineering from the Technological University of Pereira (UTP), Colombia,
in 1998 and 2003 respectively. He received the Ph.D. degree in electrical
engineering and the M.S. degree in economics from Iowa State University,
Ames in 2008. Currently, he is an associate professor at UTP. His research
interests include power system economics, transmission investment, and
energy policies.

María Elena Ruiz is an electrical engineer of the University of Antioquia.

She is with XM SA ESP, as an Energy Market Specialist. Currently,
coordinates Smart Grids and electricity market projects at XM.

Rodrigo Hidalgo (M’09) received his Ingeniero Electricista (Electrical

Engineer) degree from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín,