Thermal Districts have been presented globally as an efficient alternative to supply the demand for cooling and heating in urban areas. The development of thermal districts has been slow due to the uncertainty of demand and the lack of methods for estimating potential demands. However, the information needed for estimating district cooling potential is scarce in many cities, and the existing methodologies need to be adapted to specific conditions. This paper develops a methodology to estimate the potential for developing district cooling based on cities' climate and economic activities. The proposed methodology is applied in 13 Colombian metropolitan areas to identify potential clusters for district cooling according to the geographical distribution of buildings. The results show that the total potential demand for cooling in the 13 cities in Colombia is almost 650 MW. This paper concludes that demand for cooling that could be supplied with the implementation of tailor-made district cooling designed using the local economic characteristics of the cities through the 37 emerging clusters.

A methodology is developed to estimate the chord distribution airfoil and blade twist along the radius of the blade by using axial and angular moment conservation equations, blade element theory and optimization processes. This methodology takes into account the concept related with getting wind power for different chord blade values and selecting one that facilitates to get the maximum value for wind power. Simulation of power generation output was carried out by using a wind-speed probability distribution function (PDF) obtained from data collected at the Guajira region of Colombia.

As competition turns vigorous in the power supply industry in Colombia, large electricity companies seek to develop tools and models to support marketing and sales strategies. In this new industry structure, similar to the British one, which is primarily hydroelectric with little regulation capacity, generators trade electricity either via contracts or in the electricity pool. However profits are only attained after dispatch, which follows a plant merit order criteria - hence the relevance of bidding strategies.This paper describes in broad terms a System Dynamics based model especially developed to support strategic bidding in the Colombian electricity pool, This model also incorporates neural network forecasting and optimal dispatching capabilities. Typical simulation results are exhibited.

As the Colombian electricity market has moved into a much more competitive environment opportunities have emerged in the trading business. Although this activity can be exercised by a wide number of agents, traders required specialised knowledge of the market to support their decisions making processes and strategies. ISA, the Colombian Grid Company, and the National University of Colombia, aware of the necessity of the diverse agents in the market, developed a training environment for energy trading in Colombia, from which the sector as a whole can benefit. The most important aspect of the training exercise are the workshops, two which are based on a Systems Dynamics microworld, that provide a good inside of market behaviour under different scenarios. The microworld user, through a friendly interface, assumes the role of a trader that defines his own strategies under different hydrology scenarios. In this way he will be able to learn about the electricity market before confronting his task under real life situations. The microworld for training traders presented in this paper exhibits unique characteristics: a) supports developing specific electricity trading capabilities, b) supports developing skills for strategy and risk management, and c) competes with no similar product in the market place.