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Latin America & Caribbean / Commercial & demonstration

Rio Cauca

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations3
System facts17
Sources reviewed5
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

The archived 'Río Cauca' entry cannot be validated as an operating microgrid. Its exact 88 kW solar + 500 kW gas/diesel + 500 kW hydro figures reappear in a 2017 Colombian thesis only as 'MR Cali,' sourced back to Microgrid Media, with no owner, coordinates, equipment, commissioning date, or primary project documentation. An actual later EMCALI project named Solar Río Cauca exists at the utility's drinking-water plant, but it is a roughly 998 kWp grid-connected PV installation and is technically and chronologically different. The two should not be merged.

Research status
Unverified / identity unresolved. No primary evidence located through July 2026 establishes that the archived 88/500/500 kW microgrid was built or operated. The separate EMCALI Solar Río Cauca project was in execution in 2022 and appears in EMCALI's 2024 management reporting, but that does not validate or update the legacy microgrid. The archived record should remain flagged for manual identity resolution rather than marked operational.
Historical classification
Community
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
3.45157, -76.49528
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Rio Cauca?

3 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

EMCALI EICE ESP

Municipal utility responsible for the separate Solar Río Cauca PV project at its drinking-water treatment plant; no source connects that installation to the legacy hydro/gas/diesel entry. [3][4]

Organization

Microgrid Media / Microgrid Projects

Apparent origin of the legacy inventory figures. The 2017 thesis cites Microgrid Media for 'MR Cali,' and the later archive labels the same capacity bundle Río Cauca. [2][5]

Organization

Unknown legacy owner/operator

No accountable owner, operator, developer, utility, host facility, or equipment vendor can be tied to the archived 88/500/500 kW entry. [5][2]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
88 [1]
KW Gas/Diesel
500 [1]
KW Hydro
500 [1]
Archived solar rating
88 kW [1]
Archived hydro rating
500 kW [1]
Archived diesel rating
500 kW [1]
Legacy inventory capacities
88 kW solar, 500 kW gas/diesel, and 500 kW hydro. These are unverified database figures, not independently confirmed nameplates. [5][2]
Legacy location
The archive says 'Río Cauca, Cali - Valle del Cauca'; the thesis calls the same capacity combination only 'MR Cali.' Neither provides coordinates, host site, waterway, plant name, or grid boundary. [5][2]
Separate EMCALI Solar Río Cauca asset
998 kWp DC at EMCALI's Planta de Tratamiento de Agua Potable Río Cauca. It was reported as contracted/in execution in 2022. It does not contain the archived 500 kW hydro and 500 kW gas/diesel components. [3][4]
Energy mix
Unknown for any real legacy facility. The listed solar/gas-diesel/hydro combination cannot be treated as installed without a primary project record; the later EMCALI plant is solar PV serving a water facility. [2][3]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Legacy generation and controls

Model not publicly disclosed

No manufacturers, models, fuel engine type, hydro turbine type/head/flow, PV module/inverter, storage, controller, protection system, or interconnection equipment can be validated. [5][2]

02

Separate Solar Río Cauca equipment

Model not publicly disclosed

EMCALI reporting establishes project capacity and site but the sources reviewed do not disclose module, inverter, transformer, controls, or storage models. This equipment must not be assigned to the legacy record. [3]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Generation

    Hydro, PV, diesel [1]

  • Provenance problem

    The sole matching technical source is a thesis table that cites Microgrid Media rather than a utility, owner, regulator, EPC, environmental permit, or commissioning record. That is circular reproduction, not independent corroboration. [2]

  • Potential name conflation

    The archived name may have been attached to a generic Cali inventory entry. EMCALI's later use of the name Solar Río Cauca creates a tempting but unsupported connection; its 998 kWp rating and water-treatment context materially disagree with the legacy capacities. [5][3]

  • Separate asset progress

    EMCALI's March 2022 report listed the 998 kWp Solar Río Cauca system as under execution. The 2024 institutional report includes Planta Río Cauca among its solar work, providing evidence for that separate project—not for the archived microgrid. [3][4]

  • Evidence required to resolve

    A defensible identity would require at least an owner/operator, coordinates or host facility, commissioning or permit record, and equipment or interconnection documentation. None was found after targeted Spanish- and English-language searches. [5][2]

Provenance

5 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  2. [2]
    Análisis de Microredes en Colombia

    Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano repository · Secondary research

  3. [3]
  4. [4]
    Informe de Gestión Institucional 2024

    EMCALI EICE ESP · Primary source

  5. [5]
    Río Cauca - archived legacy record

    Microgrid Projects via Internet Archive · Archived source

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