El Niño on EPM radar

Energy use in Colombia could increase this half due to higher temperatures as a result of weather phenomenon El Niño.

Colombian multi-utility EPM's corporate finance and investment management executive vice president Jorge Andrés Tabares Angel provided the outlook during the company's latest earnings presentation.

"[El Niño] increases the probability of lower flows in Colombia and the resulting increase on the price of energy," he said.

EPM net effective capacity reaches 3,508MW, with 86.3% coming from hydroelectric plants.

Tabares attributed this strong hydropower component to EPM's low spot energy prices, which fell 43% in the first half to US$78/MWh compared with 1H14.

In Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama, where EPM also operates, company spot prices fell 22% (to US$116/MWh), 29% (to US$124/MWh), 32% (to US$77/MWh) and 64% (to US$99/MWh), respectively, he added.

The executive attributed Guatemala's low spot pricing to the country's high hydropower component, and expansion of coal and biomass-fired generation.

Tabares reported that progress of the US$5.5bn, 2.4GW Ituango hydroelectric project in Colombia has reached 32%.