Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) was established on úblicasdeMedellí18 November 1955 as a residential public utilities company which, initially, only served the inhabitants of Medellin, Colombia its hometown.
EPM is the head of a group that consists of twelve companies and has equity participation in eight others in the electricity and water sectors. Its affiliate EPM Telecomunicaciones, which operates under the name UNE, controls seven other companies in various cities around the country.
Organized as a state-owned, industrial and commercial enterprise, owned by the municipality of Medellin, EPM provides electricity, gas, water, sanitation, and telecommunications.
EPM is present in following areas in Colombia: Antioquia, Bogotá, Manizales, Armenia, Pereira, Bucaramanga, Cúcuta, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Cali, and Quibdó.
EPM international: in Panama, the company is implementing the Bonyic hydroelectric project through its affiliate Hidroecológica del Teribe. In Guadalajara, Mexico, it is providing advice and technical assistance for the implementation of potable water, sanitary sewers, and wastewater treatment projects; and it is providing telecommunications services in the United States and Spain under the brand UNE.
Strategic business units
Electricity, gas over a pipeline, waters and telecommunications: EPM has been active in these four areas of public utilities and is currently implementing a number of projects to consolidate its leadership.
Energy
Research and use of different energy sources, the development of a complete distribution system that reaches every municipality of Antioquia, and the provision of gas over a network are aspects of a company that holds an outstanding place in the Colombian electrical sector, supplying 23.9% share of the demand in the country.
EPM has built the backbone of the hydroelectric system in Colombia. After many years of experience developing hydroelectric projects, EPM has been advancing for more than a decade with research on the use of other energy sources as a way to contribute to the planet's environmental sustainability and to open new areas for its national and international growth.
Net effective capacity of EPM's generation system: 2597.6 MW, equivalent to 19.34% of the nation's installed generation capacity. Distribution system: 22% of the national total. Gas over a pipeline: 9% share in the Colombian market.
Energy generation
Hydroelectric power stations: 24
Thermoelectric power stations: 1 (La Sierra thermoelectric power station, municipality of Puerto Nare, Antioquia) Wind Farms: 1 (Jepirachi, in the upper Colombian region Guajira)
Porce III and Porce IV, with a capacity of 660 MW and 400 MW respectively, are two of the hydroelectric generation projects currently under construction.
The first generation unit in Porce III will start producing electrical energy at the end of 2010, and around the same time construction of the first civil works for Porce IV will begin. Operations will start in 2015.
In Panama, through its affiliate Hidrológica del Teribe (HET), the Bonyic hydroelectric power station is being built. This power station will be able to generate up to 31.3 MW and will contribute to decrease that country's dependence on imported oil and other fossil fuels that are highly contaminating of the environment.
In Colombia, EPM is also part of the corporation that is working to develop the Hidroituango project, which will have the largest capacity in the country with a total of 2400 MW.
All these projects that consolidate EPM's important role in the Colombian electrical landscape also indicate the path taken in their research on alternative energy sources. For example, the pioneering experience of Jepirachi which uses wind energy, and La Vuelta and La Herradura micro power stations which meet the conditions established by the Kyoto Protocol as a mechanism for clean development.
Energy transmission and distribution
Networks: 60,255 km
Transformers: 90,000
Substations: 133
EPM brings the magic of light to thousands of people in Antioquia. Its energy transmission and distribution strategic business unit (SBU) transports and sells energy, reaching 1,720,000 homes in 123 municipalities around Antioquia, and in one municipality of Chocó, covering an area of approximately 64,000 km2.