Solar energy in Colombia is no longer a thing of the future — and now you can be part of it

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Legal notice: This article is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not an investment offer, nor financial, legal or tax advice. Participation in Circular Urban projects happens through the private subscription of shares in a special purpose vehicle (SPV/SAS). Results depend on each project's actual performance and no figure should be read as a guaranteed return.

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Five years ago, talking about solar energy in Colombia sounded like a project for the future. Today the country has 24,447 registered solar rooftops, more than 9,000 new systems were installed in 2025 alone, and the government has just created a program to bring panels to households in strata 1, 2 and 3.

Colombia's energy transition is not a promise. It is already happening.

And the question we keep asking at Circular Urban is this: how can everyday Colombians genuinely take part in this transformation — not just as energy users, but as co-owners of the projects generating it?

What is changing (and why it matters now)

Colombia went from barely 1.5% of its power mix in solar and wind in 2022 to over 9% in 2024 — an unprecedented shift in the country's energy history, according to Solar and wind energy and energy communities in Colombia: 2025 Outlook by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI).

In a single year —2024— the country installed 1.6 GW of new solar capacity, taking the cumulative total past 2.3 GW. For perspective: that is more solar than everything Colombia had installed in its entire history up to that point.

Between 2024 and 2025 alone, more than 15,000 new solar rooftops came online. In 2025 there were 9,360 new installations — the largest growth on record, according to the Mining and Energy Planning Unit (UPME) in its 13 May 2026 statement.

Behind that leap sits a regulatory ecosystem built in record time:

• Law 1715 of 2014: created the tax incentives for non-conventional renewable energy projects (FNCER): a special income tax deduction, accelerated depreciation and VAT exemption for eligible equipment.
• CREG Resolution 174 of 2021: opened the door for any user —an individual or a company— to generate their own energy and sell the surplus to the local distribution grid.
• Law 2294 of 2023 (National Development Plan 2022–2026, art. 235): created Energy Communities — groups of people organizing to generate, share and trade clean energy.
• Decree 2236 of 2023: set the rules for collective self-generation (AGRC) and collective distributed generation (GDC): several users, one system, one shared goal.
• CREG Resolution 101.072 of April 2025: completed the technical framework for Energy Communities to formally join the National Interconnected System — connection procedures, surplus compensation and legal recognition.
• Ministry of Mines Resolution 40332 of July 2026: updated the Energy Communities Registry (RCE), currently applicable to communities whose energy project is operating or being implemented.

In under three years Colombia built the full set of rules. What is missing now is the capital.

The problem nobody is solving

Utility-scale solar is developed by Enel, EPM and Celsia. Residential projects are installed by whoever can pay the CAPEX alone. But there is a middle range — projects between 100 kWp and 5 MW, exactly the size of Energy Communities and collective self-generation — where private citizen capital has no way to organize itself.

Not for lack of interest. To date, 18,471 communities across the country have applied to take part in the Ministry of Mines and Energy's Energy Communities strategy. As of April 2025, only 285 communities had been formally constituted, according to IISD data (JET Knowledge Hub, August 2025) based on Ministry figures.

The bottleneck is neither the regulation nor the sunshine. It is the capital structure.

The model Circular Urban proposes

We come to solar with the same model we use for fractional real estate: a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that legally owns the asset, and people like you taking part through a share subscription in that company, under a private offering and under Colombian corporate law (SAS, Law 1258 of 2008).

The SPV installs the solar system. The system generates energy. That energy is sold to the host user through a power purchase agreement (PPA), or the surplus is injected into the grid and settled with the retailer. The project's revenue flows to the SPV, which deducts operating costs and distributes profits among its shareholders in proportion to their stake.

You are not buying panels. You are not managing anything. You co-own the project through your shares.

This model exists around the world. What Circular Urban is doing is structuring it for Colombia: with the vehicles local law requires, under the current CREG and Ministry of Mines regulation, with the asset segregation that protects your capital, and with the transparency of a digital platform where you can see in real time how much energy the project you are part of is generating.

Why now?

Because the regulation has just matured — CREG Resolution 101.072 of 2025 is the final piece of a framework that took a decade to build.

Because demand is confirmed: 18,471 communities applied, and public co-funding capacity only reaches the most vulnerable of them.

Because the government is putting public money on the table — the Colombia Solar program (MME Resolution 40159 of 2026) subsidizes up to 60% of the project value, or up to COP $20 million, for households in strata 1, 2 and 3 — which means the market is opening up massively, with or without organized private citizen capital.

And because in transitions like this one, the people who arrived first were not the bravest. They were the best informed.

If you want to understand how a Circular Urban solar project works before making any decision, the best first step is simply to sign up and explore. No commitment. Just clarity.

Official sources

Glossary: the technical terms, in plain words

The highlighted terms throughout the article bring you here. Each one comes with a short explanation and a concrete example.

Strata 1, 2 and 3

Colombian housing is classified from 1 to 6 based on the area it sits in, and the lowest brackets receive utility subsidies. Example: the Colombia Solar program covers up to 60% of a solar system for a stratum 2 household, precisely because that family could not fund the whole thing.

Power mix

The blend of sources a country uses to produce its electricity: water, gas, coal, sun, wind. Example: if 9 out of every 100 kilowatts Colombia consumes come from sun and wind, those two sources make up 9% of the mix — the rest is mostly hydro.

GW, MW and kWp

These measure the size of a system, not how much energy it delivers. 1 GW = 1,000 MW = 1,000,000 kW, and the "p" in kWp stands for "peak": the maximum output panels reach under ideal conditions. Example: a home rooftop is around 5 kWp; a 1 MW project is roughly 200 of those homes put together.

UPME

Colombia's Mining and Energy Planning Unit: the state body that plans the sector and keeps the official figures. Example: it publishes how many solar rooftops exist in the country and certifies which projects qualify for tax benefits.

FNCER tax incentives

Three benefits Law 1715 of 2014 grants renewable projects: deducting part of the investment from income tax, depreciating equipment faster than usual, and skipping VAT on eligible equipment. Example: they are not automatic — the project has to be filed with UPME and certified before the equipment is bought.

FNCER

Spanish acronym for Non-Conventional Renewable Energy Sources — how Colombian law refers to sun, wind, biomass and geothermal. Example: only a project recognized as FNCER can claim the tax incentives created by Law 1715 of 2014.

CREG

Colombia's Energy and Gas Regulation Commission: the body that writes the technical and pricing rules of the electricity sector. Example: it defines how you get paid for the energy you send to the grid from your own rooftop.

Surplus energy

The energy you generate but do not consume at the moment it is produced. Example: at midday your office is half empty while the panels run at full tilt; that surplus flows into the neighborhood grid and is credited on your bill.

Energy communities

Groups of neighbours, businesses or organizations that formally organize to generate, share and trade clean energy. Example: a neighborhood association installs panels on the local school and the benefit is split among the households that took part.

AGRC and GDC

The categories for when several users share one system: AGRC is collective self-generation and GDC is collective distributed generation. Example: the 30 apartments in a building share the output of a single installation on the roof.

Distributed generation

Producing energy where it is consumed instead of hauling it in from a distant plant. Example: the panels on a warehouse roof feed that same warehouse, and the leftover travels a few blocks through the local grid rather than across the country.

National Interconnected System (SIN)

The network of towers, cables and substations that connects generators to homes and businesses across most of the country. Example: when your panels overproduce, that energy enters the SIN and ends up powering someone who has no idea you exist.

Energy Communities Registry (RCE)

The Ministry of Mines and Energy's official list where the country's energy communities register. Example: a community that is not on the list cannot access the program's benefits, even if the panels are already up.

CAPEX

The upfront investment required to build the project: panels, inverters, mounting, wiring and installation. Example: the COP $400 million it takes to get the system running on day one, before it earns a single peso.

Fractional real estate

One property with many owners, each holding a fraction of it. Example: instead of buying a COP $800 million retail unit on your own, you put in COP $10 million and 1.25% of the rent — and of the future sale price — is yours.

SPV (special purpose vehicle)

A company created for a single purpose: owning one project. Example: "Solar Envigado SAS" exists only to own that solar system; it sells nothing else and runs no other business that could drag it down.

Share subscription

Buying newly issued shares from the company, so your money goes into the company's own equity. Example: the SAS issues 100,000 shares at COP $10,000 each; you subscribe 500 and contribute COP $5 million, which gives you 0.5% of the project.

Private offering

An invitation addressed to specific people, one at a time, rather than to the public at large. Example: Circular Urban presents a project to you after getting to know and verifying you; it does not run an ad inviting anyone to send money, because that would be a public offering and would require authorization.

SAS

Simplified Stock Corporation, the most widely used company type in Colombia, governed by Law 1258 of 2008. Example: you do not own the panels — you own a percentage of the SAS that owns the panels.

PPA

Power Purchase Agreement: a long-term contract to buy and sell energy. Example: a factory commits to buying every kilowatt the project generates for 15 years at an agreed price, usually cheaper than the grid tariff.

Network Operator and retailer

The Network Operator (OR) owns the cables and transformers in your area and approves your connection; the retailer is the company that bills you. Example: in Antioquia both roles usually sit with EPM.

Asset segregation

The project's money and assets belong to the project's own company, not to whoever manages it. Example: if Circular Urban S.A.S. faced a legal problem tomorrow, its creditors could not touch the solar system, because that asset belongs to the project's SAS and not to it.

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Circular Urban S.A.S. — Medellín, Colombia · circularurban.co

This article was reviewed by Circular Urban's legal team. It is not a public securities offering nor deposit-taking from the public. Participation in projects happens through the private subscription of shares under Law 1258 of 2008.

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