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EPM evacuates downstream towns in test before starting 2.4 GW Ituango hydro

EPM evacuates downstream towns in test before starting 2.4 GW Ituango hydro

About 5,000 people were asked to evacuate their homes on Nov. 15 as part of an emergency drill as Colombian utility Empresas Públicas Medellín (EPM) prepares to start generating electricity at its 2.4 GW Ituango hydro power plant.

The project, on the Cauca River, was originally due to begin operating in 2018. In addition to a four-year delay caused by construction problems, the project is also running around US$1.5 billion over budget. According to the latest estimates, its overall cost will now exceed US$4.5 billion.

According to BNamericas, the simulation exercise involved communities in the municipalities of Ituango, Briceño, Valdivia and Tarazá in Colombia’s northwestern Antioquia department.

EPM said the procedure was jointly coordinated by the Antioquia risk management body Dagran and the risk management committees of the four municipalities.

This drill was conducted a day after it was revealed that EPM requested an extension to its end-of-November deadline to begin operations from the plant’s first two turbine-generator units. In a letter sent to power regulator Creg and seen by BNamericas, EPM said it needed more time to meet requests from the mines and energy ministry, the government’s risk management unit and environmental regulator ANLA related to socio-environmental guarantees.

Under firm energy obligations signed with Creg, EPM must be ready to start generating electricity from the plant’s first two turbines by Nov. 30. A failure to do so would leave the company facing multimillion-dollar fines. 

The Ituango hydro facility is expected to provide 17% of Colombia’s electricity when completed.