Project economics
Colombia’s power industry
Before the TermoEmcali project was completed Colombia had 10,500 MW of installed
power-generating capacity, of which 75 per cent was hydroelectric and 25 per cent was ther-
mal. Heavy dependence on hydroelectric power led to unreliable service and sharp swings in
electricity prices. Frequent brownouts and blackouts encouraged the development of a fossil-
fuel generation plan to take advantage of Colombia’s abundant natural gas resources. The cor-
nerstone of this plan has been the construction of a pipeline system to bring gas to the larger
cities. Gas-fired power plants such as TermoEmcali provide anchor demand for the pipelines.