Hidroituango, the $18.3 billion megaproject that promises to generate 17 percent of the country’s energy demand, has three major challenges that must be overcome before the first of its eight turbines starts generating in July.
Even if EPM indicates that the construction progress is 86.9 percent and that there is significant progress on all work fronts, the first major challenge is the auxiliary diversion gallery, which was plugged in 2018 and caused the current contingency.
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William Giraldo, Vice President of Power Generation Projects EPM, explained that in 2019, as a result of said contingency, the two gates installed in this gallery, weighing 300 tons each, were closed to prevent the passage of water.
“In recent days it was possible to enter the auxiliary diversion gallery (GAD), a very positive fact for the recovery of the project and for the tranquility of the communities located downstream. With the pumping of the water that was in this area, it was possible to enter sufficient personnel and machinery to carry out the proper cleaning and removal of debris and mud,” Giraldo said.
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Due to the pandemic, the visits of the international experts could not be carried out, so the report had a delay of approximately a year and a half to be delivered.
Once the adequacy and cleaning of the GAD is achieved, the construction of the two definitive plugs, 22 meters long, will need to be installed there to consider them definitively sealed. This milestone is expected to be achieved in April.
As for blockages, progress is also being made in blocking the right tunnel, which was the one that was unblocked in May 2018, generating the avalanche in Puerto Valdivia. This milestone is also progressing satisfactorily, EPM said.
Power house, the heart of the work
The other challenge to start operating is that the powerhouse, the ‘heart of Hidroituango’, which was flooded for 271 days, is adequate.
(Keep reading: EPM says that the ANLA is already analyzing Pöyry’s report on Hidroituango)
Work is currently underway to put the first two generation units into service, in July and October of this year.
“The civil works of the first generation unit have already been completed and work has begun on the installation of electromechanical equipment and the control and installation of all auxiliary services. In the generation 2 unit, the emptying of the remaining concrete is carried out. It is estimated that in a month it would be reaching level 217, the same level where unit 1 is located and where work is leveled out so that it can start operating in October,” Giraldo said.
Regarding units 3 and 4, which will be ready for next year, EPM reported that the works are advancing according to the installation schedule of the spiral chambers and stationary rings. The remaining units – 5, 6, 7 and 8 – were used as a temporary area to store equipment.
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To date, EPM maintains the schedule for the first two units for 2022.
Courtesy EPM Group
Pöyry report, key to what is to come in the mega-work
And the third great challenge is for the project to recover the environmental license with the Pöyry report, requested in 2018 by the National Authority for Environmental Licenses (Anla) as an expert opinion on the stability conditions of Hidroituango.
The report was delivered at the end of December 2021 and it depends on it that the environmental authority lift Resolution 820 so that the project can continue with the works that are not those exclusive to the contingency.
(In context: EPM received payments of $425.9 billion for the contingency of Hidroituango)
In recent days it was possible to enter the auxiliary diversion gallery, a very positive fact for the recovery of the project and for the tranquility of the communities located downstream.
Jorge Andrés Carrillo -general manager of EPM- indicated that it will be Anla, within the framework of its powers, that must inform, communicate or require everything related to said report on the current stability of the project and the operation of the future power plant. generation.
“Due to the pandemic, the visits of the international experts could not be carried out, so the report had a delay of approximately a year and a half to be delivered. This is an opinion and not a root cause study of what happened in the contingency,” Carrillo clarified.
The manager clarified that the recovery of said environmental license depends on the commissioning of Hidroituango.
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Precisely, this report warns about the risk that the landfill has, which is still in operation and that it is a work that is not made to be in constant operation.
In this regard, EPM indicated that this is their main concern and made it clear that the only option to evacuate the water, other than the landfill, is through the generation units, that is, for Hidroituango to start operating.
DAVID ALEJANDRO MERCADO PEREZ
Correspondent of THE TIME
Medellin
On Twitter: @AlejoMercado10
davmer@eltiempo.com
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