A key player in Colombia’s energy security

Colombia

John Alberto Maya Salazar, general manager of Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), talks to The Energy Year about the role the company plays in supporting Colombia’s energy transition, the relevance of small-scale hydro plants and the significance of the Hidroituango project. State-owned EPM is Colombia’s largest utility company.

This interview is featured in The Energy Year Colombia 2025

What is EPM’s role in Colombia’s energy industry, and what role does it play in supporting the country’s energy transition?
EPM is the largest utility company in the country, with the largest installed capacity and the most energy generation, which makes us a key player in Colombia’s energy security. Our energy comes from a very clean matrix, where we have a large proportion of hydro and, to a lesser extent, thermal. We were pioneers in Colombia in wind energy with our pilot project, Jepírachi, and we recently started commercial operation of our first large-scale solar farm, Tepuy.
This is complemented by growth targets that aim to contribute to a gradual energy transition through the implementation of non-conventional renewable energy projects, highlighting the importance of gas as a transitional energy source, and emphasising the importance of hydroelectric plants for energy security, thanks to their stable and clean energy.

How important are EPM’s small-scale hydro plants relative to its large-scale ones?
We are an energy generation company with a vocation oriented towards the use of water resources, given the great potential we continue to have in the country. Currently, the organisation has an installed generation capacity of 4,537 MW, of which 89% corresponds to hydroelectric generation plants, and this percentage includes 18 smaller plants with a total capacity of 131 MW.
Small-scale hydropower plants are more flexible in operation and dispatch; operations with high plant factors can access the benefits of Acts 1715 of 2014 [on the integration of non-conventional renewable energy sources] and 2099 of 2021 [on accelerating the energy transition] and can contribute to optimising the use in chains of hydropower projects in a basin.
However, large-scale hydropower plants are and will be needed, mainly those that can provide reservoir regulation, system robustness and other services such as automatic generation control (AGC).

What measures did the company take to navigate the impacts of El Niño?
One of the main strategies for facing the El Niño phenomenon was to raise the level of our reservoirs before the summer (beginning of December), and thus have sufficient resources to face this season, which is the most challenging in the event.
In addition to this, a fuel contract was in place and the logistics of supplying and maintaining the plants were adjusted.

What significance does the Hidroituango project have for the country’s energy security and sustainability goals?
The entry into operation of the first stage of the Hidroituango power plant brings an additional 1.2 GW of installed capacity to the National Interconnected System. The first stage (four units) came fully into operation in November 2023 during the El Niño phenomenon and played a very important role in avoiding possible power rationing in Colombia.
With the entry into operation of the remaining four units – units 5, 6, 7 and 8 – (second stage), 2.4 GW will be made available to provide clean energy to the country, making Hidroituango the largest power plant in Colombia. At the same time, with the plant’s entry into full operations, emissions will be reduced by 4.3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, contributing greatly to the energy transition.

Tell us about the importance and impact of EPM’s first large-scale non-conventional renewable energy project in Colombia, the Tepuy solar park.
The Tepuy photovoltaic solar park, which we are building in the municipality of La Dorada, in the department of Caldas, is part of our strategy for contributing to the country’s energy transition through the generation of energy from non-conventional renewable sources.
Tepuy is our first large-scale solar photovoltaic park. Commercial operations were launched in June 2024. With its 83 MW of nominal power, enough to supply a city of approximately 400,000 inhabitants, we are increasing Colombia’s power generation capacity and joining the electricity sector’s efforts to reduce the system’s vulnerability to climate variability phenomena, such as the one the country has just faced, and to guarantee the reliability and continuity of service in the coming years.
The park has around 200,000 bifacial solar panels installed on solar trackers, distributed in 16 transformation centres and grouped in five circuits. It is expected to generate an average of 214.5 GWh per year, which will be injected into the National Interconnected System through the Purnio substation owned by CHEC, a subsidiary of the EPM Group, via a 3.8-kilometre line.
We invested just under COP 400 billion [USD 91.6 million] in its construction and generated at least 1,800 jobs, 52% of them for people from the area of influence.
The works and facilities are distributed over an area of 220.39 hectares [2,203,900 square metres], equivalent to approximately 267 football fields. We also set aside around 60 hectares [600,000 square metres] as an environmental protection and conservation area.
As part of the project, we implemented a comprehensive environmental education and capacity building strategy with the communities, which enabled us to train more than 700 people through the implementation of 45 training sessions on business plans, entrepreneurship and leadership, as well as workshops and educational and experiential activities with different interested groups.
Before and during the construction of the works, we were very careful with the flora and fauna of the site. We had teams of specialised professionals who worked on chasing away or rescuing and relocating individuals of different species to places where they could survive.
It is worth highlighting the contribution to the territory’s economic development, with the activation of 115 suppliers of local goods and services, and the generation of around 2,200 jobs, 62% of which were local labour.
Importantly, we will reduce 32,884 tonnes of CO2 each year, thus contributing to meeting the country’s climate change commitments.

What learning curves has EPM gone through with the development of the Tepuy solar projects?
With Tepuy we learned the particularities of contracting that are handled in the non-conventional renewable energy market, and also the planning of the works and their execution within the planned timeframe because these parks are developed very quickly compared to the construction of a hydroelectric power plant. Likewise, we learned the importance of environmental and social management before and during the execution of the works.
We also learned valuable lessons in the installation of equipment, in its functional tests, and in the regulatory tests prior to operation, in order to comply with all regulatory requirements and deliver the energy from the Tepuy solar photovoltaic park to the country.
Tepuy is therefore our newest contribution to the energy transition, to the development of the territories and to the diversification of the energy supply to improve the quality of life of all Colombians.

What are EPM’s plans to expand the coverage of public services in rural and marginalised areas where there are high rates of energy poverty?
The Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index allows us to understand fuel poverty from a more holistic perspective than that offered by traditional indicators. One of its dimensions is access to electricity and, at EPM, we have set out to close the gap in access to electricity services, through solutions in our portfolio such as the Housing Enabling Programme, Prepaid Energy, Pay As You Go and the Network Operator Coverage Expansion Plan (PECOR), designed to benefit rural areas that have historically faced high rates of energy poverty, and whose purpose is to provide these households with the appropriate technical and commercial conditions to enjoy the electricity service.
By improving electricity supply coverage, EPM not only contributes to the economic and social development of these regions, but also promotes greater wellbeing and quality of life for their inhabitants, facilitating access to essential resources and fostering opportunities for progress and sustainable development.
Between 2018 and 2023, EPM expanded the electricity network in its coverage area by connecting 65,950 homes in rural areas, including 8,623 families with the Prepaid Energy offer, reaching a total coverage of 99.71%. It is important to note that “service coverage” refers to the availability of the electricity infrastructure necessary to meet connection requests. To ensure that this coverage is maintained and adapted to the growth in demand, EPM has made permanent investments in the expansion of its network.
We believe that the transformation of territories requires collective action. For this reason, at EPM, we collaborate in working groups with national, departmental and municipal territorial entities, seeking mechanisms that mobilise the provision of electricity services through schemes that leverage investments in infrastructure and sustainable purchasing options, allowing us to improve the quality of life of the communities.
In the last five years, the company has worked with the government of Antioquia to subsidise the connection of approximately 9,600 rural homes in the department, as well as the deployment of non-conventional energy solutions in 19 rural educational institutions.

What are EPM’s international expansion plans, especially in Central America?
The EPM Group has planned within its renewable energy growth strategy for the coming years to structure investment alternatives that will allow it to reach, in a first stage, an installed capacity of up to 300 additional MW in Central America.

Read our latest insights on:

• Colombia