Colombia's Afinia outlines US$2bn investment plan

Colombian power company Afinia has outlined plans to invest 10tn pesos (around US$2bn) over the next decade to upgrade and expand electric power infrastructure on the country's Caribbean coast.

The amount compares to total investment of 1.2tn pesos in 2021 and 2022, a figure that was slightly below budget because of supply chain bottlenecks related to COVID-19, according to general manager Javier Lastra.

Those problems have largely been resolved and in 2023 the subsidiary of Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) expects to outlay 1.1tn pesos, Lastra said. 

"[The investments] are having a very important and positive impact on the dynamics of quality indicators," he told newspaper Portafolio. "The duration of interruptions totaled 121 hours in 2020 and we estimate that to fall to 74 in 2022."

EPM secured control of Afinia in March 2020 in an auction of assets belonging to the CaribeMar division of the now-defunct state utility Electricaribe. Afinia's distribution area covers the departments of Bolívar, Cesar, Córdoba, Sucre and part of Magdalena.

Lastra said that between 2023 and 2026, Afinia plans investments of 5.2tn pesos.

Some 2tn pesos have been allocated to projects that aim to reduce losses and reinforce the grid, 2.2tn pesos to substations and power lines, and 766bn pesos to networks. 

Planned works include nine new substations, 61 additional power transformers and 40,000km of network upgrades, he added. 

Last week, EPM's board approved the signing of an Afinia credit agreement worth up to 450bn pesos (US$93mn) to help bankroll its investment program.