In the absence of one, they are now two the dates that appear to Hidroituango in its programming, to start up the first generation turbine.
To the official, is scheduled for July 26and which was announced a month ago by the manager of EPM, Jorge Andrés Carrillo, appears the one from the construction consortium CCC Ituango, which indicates that in October the mega-work would begin to generate energy.
(Read: Nation gives free rein for Hidroituang to startor).
Precisely, the latter, in a letter addressed to engineer William Giraldo Jiménez, Vice President of Power Generation Projects at EPM, expresses that taking into account the schedules that are jointly analyzed in the programming committees, in which the activities in charge of other contractors and their interrelation with the activities carried out by the Consortium, these are not adjusted in their termination for the announced date.
“According to the programming that we know, the critical route for the entry into operation of the first unit is marked by the shielding of the pipes and upper elbows, as well as the concrete around them, and whose completion foresees the start of the tests with water for the month of october 2022”, indicates the consortium in the letter.
Likewise, CCC Ituango emphasizes in the letter, which is signed by the general director Braulio Saraiva, that by not having all the information at the start of operations of the megaproject, since it depends on multiple actors coordinated by EPM“we respectfully request that you inform us of the strategies you have planned to reach the announced generation date, with the aim of evaluating what action plans within the reach of the consortium we can implement to meet that objective.”
It did not take long for EPM to come out in line with CCC Ituango’s assertion, and in a statement it insists that, thanks to the technical progress that has been made in accordance with the schedules of works carried out by more than 80 contractor companies that are developing it, “July 26, 2022 will be the date for the entry into operation of the first power generating unit” of the megaproject.
(What’s more: Zero hour is set for the start of work at Hidroituango).
According to the work schedules carried out by more than 80 contracting companies, July 26 will be the start of operations of the megaproject
“We are doing everything in our power to carry out the work”stressed the Vice President of Power Generation Projects of EPM.
William Giraldo, vice president of the company, specifies in the statement that it has always been stated that the schedules in a megaproject the size of Hidroituango They have a level of uncertainty. “Within the critical path of the Ituango generating units is the installation of the vertical well shields, which has not advanced at the required speed in the lower elbows,” he said.
And underlines that, however, it is expected that, in the metal shield installation of the straight part of those wells, it is possible to have a decrease in times.
“That will be evaluated in these following months, since the installation is just beginning in that area.”
But not only are the dates of the construction consortium and EPM for the entry into operation of Hidroituango the only ones that are on the table, a third also appears, although in a distant probability.
(What’s more: They confirm a sanction against EPM for not putting Hidroituango into operation).
It is the one indicated in the external audit firm Deloittecontracted by XM, operator of the National Interconnected System, in which it is estimated that the megaproject would begin to deliver energy on September 10, 2023.
According to the expert opinion, the 2,400 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity of the plant (distributed in eight turbines of 300 MW each) would be divided by EPM into two groups of 1,200 MW of effective net capacity (CEN) for their entry into operation.
Thus, the first 1,200 MW would come into operation in the ninth month of next year
ALFONSO LOPEZ
