Isagen 1Q 2024 Net Income Drops 50% Year-on-Year
Medellin-based 100% renewable-power giant Isagen announced May 15 that its first quarter (1Q) net income plunged 50% year-on-year, to COP$198 billion (US$51.7 million), from COP$397 billion (US$103.7 million) in 1Q 2023.
Operating income also dipped slightly (0.5%) year-on-year, to COP$1.34 trillion (US$350 million), while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 24.2% year-on-year, to COP$748 billion (US$195 million).
Much of the blame for Isagen’s fall in profits can be traced to a 29% year-on-year drop in the company’s mainly hydroelectric power generation, falling to 3,077 gigawatt-hours (GWh) during 1Q 2024, the company noted. Isagen’s 1Q 2024 operating costs simultaneously soared 55% year-on-year.
Colombia’s national interconnected electric-power system (“SIN” in Spanish initials) meanwhile saw accumulated energy demand during 1Q 2024 rise 7.7% year-on-year, to 20,510 GWh — with competitor thermal-power plants helping to cover shortages in hydropower output during 1Q 2024.
During 1Q 2024, water levels behind hydroelectric dams were 47% below the historic average because of a months-long drought in Colombia “and the aggregate level of the system’s reservoirs closed [1Q 2024] at 19% below the historical average,” the company noted.
Isagen currently has 22 electric-power-generation plants nationwide – with more-than 3 gigawatts (GW) of total output capacity.
Of the 22 plants, 15 are hydroelectric, two are two wind-power generating plants (Guajira I and WESP 01) and five are solar-photovoltaic power plants (Llanos 1, Llanos 2, Llanos 3, Llanos 4 and Llanos 5).
