Colombia Takes Measures for El Niño Phenomenon

Colombia’s ministers of Mines and Energy, Andres Camacho, and Environment, Susana Muhamad, have announced 15 additional measures to deal with the effects of the last stage of the El Niño phenomenon, and presented the current situation of the country as it faces the climatic event.

Minister Camacho indicated that given the impacts and risks of the climate crisis, energy rationing is not imminent in the country, but this “obliges us to take some structural reinforcement measures so that we do not reach any critical condition and manage to overcome this period of the El Niño phenomenon without difficulties.”

For her part, the Minister of Environment, Susana Muhamad, warned that Colombia is going through a situation of unprecedented temperatures, which implies an atypical situation in weather patterns.

Rainfall will be less than expected in Colombia

In the middle of the rainy season, which began this April, weather patterns are not corresponding to what should be normal. The scarce rains registered so far are a cause for concern because of the situation of the reservoirs, which are registering record lows. Rainfall announcements are also equivocal because although all forecasters agree that the rains will come, they do not agree on the magnitude.

Initially, an important rainfall episode had been announced for the second half of April, but now it seems that, although it will rain, it will rain less than announced. “The latest IDEAM estimates show that, indeed, already with high certainty, we are going to have copious rains throughout the country during this weekend, more or less between this Thursday and next Monday. However, the last two weeks of April, which were expected to be above average, are not going to be above normal,” said the Minister of Environment.

Muhamad maintained that under these climatic conditions, the recovery of water flows may be delayed. “At this moment we have two situations: first in Colombia and also in the world, an unprecedented temperature situation, and also the international agencies have called us to understand that we are in an atypical situation in world weather patterns and that we cannot trust that what has happened in the past is what is going to happen going forward,” the minister commented.

New government measures for El Niño phenomenon

The government has announced a new package of 15 measures, aimed at both monitoring and control, as well as increasing electricity generation and creating incentives for savings.

The first package includes a total of nine measures that seek to further improve daily control over the situation to avoid blackouts, as is happening in Ecuador, and greater problems in the water supply. In this regard, it should be recalled that Bogota has been under programmed 24-hour restrictions by sector every 10 days for a week.

In the package to increase energy production, the government has announced that it is working with the company that operates the Termocentro Thermal Power Plant, so that it will start operating no later than Monday, April 22, which will guarantee the entry of about 272 MW of additional energy to the national electric system, which supplies 3% of the national demand.

Likewise, according to the Ministers of Environment and Energy, with the entry of renewable generation and the use of available energy from surpluses of large consumers, the capacity of the system will be increased by at least 100 MW. Finally, Colombia sets the goal of achieving a 4% reduction in consumption through efficient energy use.

Regarding incentives for savings, it was announced that the efficient use of energy will be favored and the disconnection of the industrial system (high demand) that has backup plants will be promoted. Likewise, it was resolved to grant an incentive to citizens who reduce their energy consumption.