Ten years ago, when we started dreaming of building a solar energy company, we couldn’t imagine, even in the rosiest scenario, what the idea we were trying to build during our college days would turn into.

Our purpose was very clear: implementation of renewable energies. What made us want to do it: the passion we felt when talking about energy issues, but we didn’t really know how we wanted to achieve it.

During our journey as entrepreneurs, we learned something that perhaps would have been invaluable at the time: it doesn’t matter if we don’t know how to do it, the most important thing is to know our goal and be 100% positive that we can make it happen. Eventually, the “how” is revealed as we go along the way and learn from our mistakes. 

I feel that today might be similar. We have a road travelled and some knowledge gained by making mistakes; however, we have a clear vision of what we want our company to be in the next 10 years, we know our purpose very well, and our passion to keep building not only a company, but a team that creates a positive impact, is the same. We will be a digital energy company that offers clean, affordable, and digital energy through an amazing service in Colombia (where it all started) and in Latin America.

For this purpose, we have designed a strategy focused on using technology and data to optimize the implementation, generation, commercialization, management, and operation of our energy generation systems, to offer our customers clean, reliable energy that saves them money, increasing their productivity and leveraging their future growth.

As I mentioned at the beginning, we don’t know where this path will lead us, but we are certain that we have a reason to do it: optimize energy consumption through the implementation of clean, affordable, and digital energy projects to contribute, from our place, to the great goal of achieving zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Finally, I would like to mention two lessons learned over the years: first, that purpose and passion are the key skills to move forward on a challenging path and to maintain motivation on a daily basis. Secondly, the most important thing is to start making that vision come true, even if the details of the path are not very clear. The way to do it will be understood along the way and will be stronger with each step we take.

La entrada Entrepreneurship to build our dream: A digital energy company in Latin America se publicó primero en ISA.

Let’s celebrate together the reasons that have made us feel pride, but above all, gratitude.

1. In 1967, ISA started its path with three professionals who met in a house in Bogotá, Colombia. Today, more than 4.300 people make up this multi-Latin family.
2. More than 50 years ago, we made our first great dream come true: to interconnect the country with the start-up of the Central Transmission Network. 
3. Peru welcomed us in the beginning of our internationalization strategy. 20 years later, we have almost doubled our infrastructure with 12 thousand kilometers of lines.
4. In 2003 we reached a new territory: Bolivia.  
5. We entered the Brazilian energy market to generate progress and development in that country.
6. We arrived in Chile to carry on with our dream of interconnecting the continent.  
7. We embraced a new visual identity and a manifesto that became our higher purpose: to generate CONNECTIONS THAT INSPIRE.  
8. We launched Conexión Jaguar (Jaguar Connection), which today protects more than 828.000 hectares in Latin America, with a potential to reduce 7 million tons of CO_2.
9. We launched the ISA2030 Strategy, designed to generate Sustainable Value.  
10. We have more than 20 years of experience and recognition in the sector as the main operator of interurban roads in Chile, and we are now present in Colombia.
11. A pandemic taught us that if we realize that We Are All One, there is connection.  
12. We have started a new project for the planet: in Chile, since there are no jaguars, we are protecting the puma, the second largest cat in the Americas. 
13. We have created Conexiones para el Desarrollo (Connections for Development) with an inspiring purpose: to strengthen educational, community, and institutional capabilities in Latin America.
14. Because we act ethically and with integrity. 
15. Corporate volunteering connects us from the heart. 
16. Because Otras Miradas (Other Insights), our diversity and inclusion program. 
17. We launched the first school for female lineworkers in Colombia.
18. Because of the relationship we have been building for more than 20 years with the indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, based on respect and trust.
19. Because of our Development and Peace program, of which we have been a part for more than 20 years, which has yielded 30 projects and benefited more than 10.300 people.
20. We are the largest electric power transporter in Colombia and Latin America.
21. Our #SemilleroTalentoISA annually welcomes young people in Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Brazil to live a multi-Latin and multi-business experience.
22. Here’s to our beautiful facilities, with outdoor work spaces, a breastfeeding room, and a small forest in the middle of the city.
23. Because of our commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship.
24. Because of our transmission projects, which will make renewable energies flow throughout Latin America.
25. Because we were included, for the fifth time, in the FTSE4Good.
26. Because of the reliability of our business units, through which we connect more than 170 million people in the region.
27. Because today we take part in the most important conversation for humanity: the energy transition to mitigate the impact of climate change. 
28. Because we were awarded the Equipares Silver Seal for Equity.
29. Because we were the first public company to democratize.
30. Because we integrate the region.
31. Because we are a company that promotes Being and Doing.
32. Because of our Conectados con la Vida (Connected with Life) program and our commitment to the safety and health of our people. 
33. Because now, as part of the Ecopetrol Group, we will be the largest energy cluster in the region.
34. Because of the families of our team, who are also our own. 
35. Because of Huertos en Línea (Line Vegetable Gardens), a project that transforms the easement strips along the electrical infrastructure into productive areas, where nearby communities grow produce for consumption and sale.
36. Because of 55 years, and the story continues.
37. Because to give is also to receive. As part of our celebration, we will contribute to the restoration of the tropical rainforest of the Ciénaga de Barbacoas, jaguar territory. This regionally protected area represents one of the last opportunities for the conservation of a unique ecosystem, of which only about 10% of its original extension has survived.
38. And finally, but most importantly, here’s to our team, which is our greatest asset and inspiration. 

CHEERS!

T H A N K  Y O U  for being part of the story that we are building together. 

La entrada 55 YEARS GENERATING CONNECTIONS THAT INSPIRE se publicó primero en ISA.

ISA REP celebrates its 20th anniversary in Peru this month. The time that has passed has marked a before and after in the country’s electric power transmission, as the company received  about 5263,9 km and 45 substations from the Peruvian State in 2002 and today it has almost doubled the infrastructure it manages, with 12 thousand kilometers of lines and 82 substations, which has enabled millions of Peruvians to have access to electric power service of much higher quality and reliability.

But this has not been a random result, but the result of the decision and commitment of ISA and its companies to invest in the country and contribute to closing the gaps in the energy sector, through an efficient management of the transmission system that was given to us in concession.

To date, ISA REP has contributed USD 2,473.90 million of investment in more than 63 projects. A clear example that our commitment to Peru has always been long-term.

In addition, throughout this time we have incorporated different sustainability programs, which, leveraged by innovation and digital transformation, are now pioneering initiatives in the country and have always sought to maximize the positive and long-term impact on the communities where they are deployed.

One of these is the Sustainable Easements (Servidumbres Sostenibles) program, through which we have installed more than 15 urban gardens in Lima and La Libertad, as well as the first medicinal garden in the capital. These initiatives help more than 200 families in our area of influence to have quality food and obtain additional income from the commercialization of their crops.

This certainly could not be a reality without our people. We have a diverse, passionate and highly qualified talent to implement the projects and initiatives necessary to ensure the creation of value for our stakeholders and society in general. These 20 years of constant growth are undoubtedly the result of the effort and motivation of our talent.

They are the ones who have driven the achievement of major milestones such as the assembly of the first 500 kV transmission system in Peru, the Chilca – La Planicie – Zapallal project, marking a milestone in the country’s energy history. Also, our talent has ensured the operation of the system, despite the countless natural disasters that the country has had to face in recent years, as well as the arrival of a global pandemic in 2020.

We know that the future will be increasingly challenging, but today we reaffirm our higher purpose of transmitting Connections that Inspire, and to be by 2030 a company that articulates and leads the transformation of the electricity sector in Peru. In addition to transporting energy, we work with companies, governments, academia, social organizations, and communities with a comprehensive vision for a sustainable energy future, bringing wellbeing to more and more people.

The commitment is a long-term one, for a fairer, more inclusive country with equal opportunities for all.

La entrada 20 years transmitting Connections that Inspire in Peru se publicó primero en ISA.

Leader of Conexión Jaguar Program

ISA

The commemoration of Earth Day is more relevant than ever. Since its origins in 1970, when one of the first civic mobilizations took place worldwide, to demand from governments and society the protection of nature and its natural resources, requesting the creation of agencies and laws to control and stop the progressive increase of pollution that was already evident at that time. Among the motivations at that time were the contamination of soils and water sources, air quality problems, which were already affecting human health, as well as the destruction of ecosystems and the threat of extinction of hundreds of species, among others. Today, these problems persist and are becoming increasingly greater and unsustainable in the face of the accelerated development and growth of the population and economies. Therefore, a permanent call for the protection of planetary boundaries is increasingly necessary at all levels of society, and no opportunity should be missed to remind us of this.

This is how we must understand Earth Day as a commemoration of every day because it is not enough to take action on just one day of the year to protect the planet on which we live, which is ultimately what fosters life, both for the human species and for the other species with which we coexist, and on which we depend. For this reason, Earth Day could also be considered as the day of life, the day of all forms of life and this occurs everywhere and at every moment.

So much so, that a couple of years ago the United Nations organization itself elevated the care of nature and its natural resources to the status of a human right. Seeking to make increasingly visible the seriousness of threatening the human need and dependence on a healthy environment for the development of individual lives and in society, which will require an even greater level of care and vigilance on a planetary scale.

But all this could make much more sense if we begin to understand and become aware of what science and nature itself has been demonstrating for a long time, and that is that, as a human species, we are also part of an infinite and complex network of interactions of mutual dependence with the other elements of the Earth; that we are an integral part of the planetary system; and that it is the only one we have. There is nothing wrong with the message that a science activist recently went viral in the media with the phrase “we are nature defending itself”. And perhaps, when we as a society manage to understand the profound implications of understanding ourselves as part of this planet, surely defending it will no longer be a necessary effort, because it will become a permanent voluntary act of self-care in all spheres of life as individuals and as a society.

So happy and conscious day of that little piece of earth that we all are, may its protection be ours, that of our mother, who permanently gives and sustains life on this beautiful and unique planet Earth that we inhabit.

La entrada We live on the Earth every day se publicó primero en ISA.

I was sure of my decision to study Civil Engineering, until a family friend talked so enthusiastically about power towers and power plants that it rubbed off on me. At that time, when I was 15 years old, I said I did not want to study “careers made for girls”, now I laugh and say, who said careers had gender? Although that is how it felt at times.

On the first try, as it happens to thousands of people, I did not pass admission to one of the most recognized public universities in this country, but I tried again, and it worked. I was now part of a group of 51 students in which there were only five of us women, and there I was. Firm, convinced and in love with Electrical Engineering. I survived and arrived at a renowned company in Medellin to do my internship, which later became my first four years of experience, where I met people who taught me, cared for me, valued me, but others, on the other hand, doubted my talent, desire and knowledge.

I was doing field work, going to substations to do surveys of the designs we were developing, and in the middle of those outings I heard a phrase that I adored: “this girl will not to be able to do the job. Her nails and heels are going to break.” That is why I bring to this text the famous phrase of the British writer, Vivien Greene, “life is not waiting for the storm to pass, it is learning to dance in the rain” … because instead of discouraging me, it drove me so strongly that today I have more than 24 years of service with heels and long nails.

One of the most important days of my professional life was the moment when I was called by the Infrastructure Project Management of ISA to work as a contractor in the UPME 2003 project, a great milestone for the multi-Latin Company, since they would reinforce the Central Network and connect it with the Caribbean region, thanks to this experience, I returned in 2012 to be part of Corporate Engineering, this time from the inside.

I also reaffirm that what I studied is not a career for men or women, it is for people, and that from our sensitivity we contribute to this “masculinized” profession, but I proudly celebrate that at ISA opportunities are for everyone. For all.

Today I feel happy. We recently launched the Proof-of-Concept Center (CPC), a high-tech digital laboratory where control and protection tests of high-voltage electrical systems can be performed with a real-time simulation system, with the purpose of strengthening quality and reliability in power transmission systems and contributing to prepare the systems for the greater demands of the grids of the future: more reliable, flexible, resilient, and safe. The CPC will also accelerate and enrich the learning and training curve of people to develop critical competence in these highly technical and demanding topics. This dream is under the direction and leadership of Diana Aristizábal, Coordinator of Substation Engineering at ISA. Nice to meet you, it is me.

La entrada It is not a race for men or women, it is for people se publicó primero en ISA.

Director of Innovation ISA

“We are all in the same well, but some of us look at the stars”.

Oscar Wilde.

In a quote from one of his works, Wilde refers to people who, despite the challenges they face, choose to stay focused on their dreams. Easier said than done, but I think it is a feeling we’ve all experienced. The question you are probably asking yourself is why start this text on innovation with this sentence? Why not with a series of references to great scientists and innovators such as Marie Curie or Angela Restrepo? Or inventions that have changed people’s lives? Well, because innovation, being an activity for human beings, must be linked to optimism and the possibility of making things happen. On the other hand, it is essential to understand how to develop innovation driven and oriented by the organization’s strategy, while leveraged on the capabilities, competencies and potential of its talent and culture.

Innovation is one of the pillars on which the ISA Group’s 2030 strategy – Green, Innovation, Development and Articulation (VIDA for its acronym in Spanish) – rests, being an important element to contribute to the generation of sustainable value for our business group and to ensure corporate sustainability. Likewise, different strategic focuses were defined, verticals in which we seek to make innovation an increasingly important contributor to this higher purpose:

CONNECTIONS THAT INSPIRE.

Being part of organizations such as ISA and Ecopetrol, not putting innovation at the service of the recovery of our world is not an option. However, we must do so by leveraging our capabilities and knowledge and, above all, with increasingly powerful alliances.

Fortunately, for decades ISA has proven to have this fundamental asset: its human team ready to face challenges, to innovate and to transform; and that is why, I invite you to watch the video that portrays the “50 years of our first connection”. Capabilities that have surely also been at the root of the results that have been accumulating in the different strategic innovation focuses (the current portfolio of innovation initiatives can be found in Brightidea, our idea and project management platform. See here.

No less important is the challenge of inspiring and convening others to work on solutions for the benefit of humanity, a recent example of this is the alliance we developed with Rockstart (accelerator and Venture Capital of early stage startups) to accelerate 10 technology-based startups that effectively contribute to improve environmental sustainability, solve problems of vulnerable communities or, in general, that have challenges aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Read more.

Undoubtedly, it is a great time to belong to this organization, especially now that we are part of one of the largest energy conglomerates in Latin America. The challenges we face and the opportunities that exist to impact our businesses and the world we live in using science, technology and innovation are immense, to make the impossible possible through connections that inspire.

Taking up Wilde’s words, I deeply believe that we have a duty to aim for the stars. But with strategic focus, operational excellence, and determination, driven by our talent and the right and duty to dream.

“Connecting the present, transforming the future.”

#ConnectionsThatInspire

La entrada INNOVATION TOWARDS A HIGHER PURPOSE: A CALL TO ACTION se publicó primero en ISA.

In the month of the jaguar we celebrate its gradual return, its ability to silently follow its path through the forest just a few steps behind people, its persistence.  We celebrate the bond that the jaguar continues to represent between people and its territory, which we now understand to be more shared.  We celebrate that we are in time to recover from the damage caused to the forests and to ourselves. 

“In the month of the jaguar, we find ourselves face to face, ever closer, with who we truly are, thanks to our ability to innovate in the territory.”

We have understood the role of ecological connectivity through science. Also, we have oriented our work so that technology is an ally and not a source of impact, where the key is a regenerative culture that is beginning to emerge. 

Thanks to a new interpretation of the relationship between nature and society, inspired by the power of the jaguar and the innovative perspective of energy management, paths are crossed to restore the functionality of ecosystems and use knowledge to ensure human work: never before has the word synergy had such a precise and promising scope.  It is not illusory to think of coexistence when we open space for ingenuity to help us, with a more inclusive perspective, to build the infrastructure that society requires to live better.  It is not illusory to share the world again with the jaguar.

La entrada BECOME A JAGUAR AGAIN. se publicó primero en ISA.

The difference between this fourth industrial revolution and the previous ones is that we navigate in the chaos of the unknown brought on by digitalization, as well as by their speed. How can we prepare for tasks and situations that we cannot even imagine? And for change and constant digitalization? How to make friends with uncertainty? An option for help is by acquiring a digital mindset, a knowmad mentality, as the knowledge nomad is the professional profile that is better fitted in this volatile and fluctuating environment. If we interiorize a “liquid” attitude and mentality, we will be more flexible to adapt to the changing needs of these new times. In this XXI Century, flexibility is the way forward, as he who better adapts is the one that survives.

Therefore, the knowmad is a great agent of uncertainty, who uses his knowledge, versatility, and flexibility to search for experimental solutions to problems that as of today are unknown. Agile learning. The working world we have under our feet brings us new challenges. Therefore, it demands new skills and abilities. But let´s see it from a positive perspective:

The good thing about not traveling in a straight line… is that we have an open future.

And that also means that life does not stop or close after reaching the age of 40 or 60. Any of these ages is the best professional moment as it is the one we have! The professional with a knowmad mentality, and who is over 40 years old, because of the complex labor and demographical conditions he has to live in, as well as because of his interest in surfing them to stay on the wave crest for many more years, makes him a silver surfer (Senior professional with a silver talent). Consequently, it is also important to cultivate in our companies an age friendly attitude, so that getting older always means an addition and not a subtraction.

If, as professionals, we are capable of freeing ourselves from our paralyzing fears, to dare to try things that scare us or that cause us vertigo; if we find those things that make us enjoy the journey, those that we feel connected to, that we are good at, that we feel like doing and therefore they bring out the best in us; if we have a job/profession where we can share a smile… then we will acquire a knowmad way to see  life, which means that each one of us takes control over our professional future, taking the reins of our lives to decide where we want to go and assuming the responsibility for each step we need to take to get there.

When the future is uncertain, professionals and organizations are required to be in continuous change, evolving, reimagining ourselves. Learning, studying… working. Because the unknown is complex. Uncertainty cannot be totally understood or encompassed, not even compartmentalized, chopped, or broken, so we have no choice but to discover it (even appreciate it) while we move through the path, coexisting with it.

Let´s generate our own toolbox.

Happy future. Raquel Roca

La entrada MINDSET DIGITAL FOR SURFING AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE se publicó primero en ISA.

The project consisted of connecting Guatapé (Antioquia), Yumbo (Valle del Cauca) and La Mesa (Cundinamarca) substations. This network had 1.095 circuit kilometers and a common point in the La Esmeralda (Caldas) substation, where the first control center of the system was located.

This project was the first step towards the national integration of the electric sector, the foundation of growth for ISA in Colombia and Latin America. And the dream continues.

This is a story told in four voices, a journey through the past, the present and the future that we build from now on.

La entrada 50 YEARS SINCE OUR FIRST CONNECTION se publicó primero en ISA.