Celsia's Q1 2024 profit plummets due to El Nino-driven costs

Colombian power company Celsia saw its first-quarter consolidated net profit plunge by 75.7% year-on-year to COP 29.69 billion (USD 7.6m/EUR 7.1m) due to the effects of the El Nino droughts.

The company on Monday reported revenues for the quarter of COP 1.38 trillion, down 8.7% compared to the same period last year, mainly due to lower hydro power generation. It said that the El Nino phenomenon raised its generation costs, leading to cost of sales growing by 6.4% to COP 1.06 trillion.

Total EBITDA dropped by 36.6% to COP 325.98 billion, with an EBITDA margin reaching 23.7%.

Celsia, nevertheless, looked favourably on the results, comparing them to the losses posted for the first quarter of 2016 when Colombia was going through the 2015-2016 El Nino season. The company said the challenges experienced in 2015-2016 forced it to rethink its generation strategy, balance its largely hydro-based power mix with solar energy and reconfigure its thermal power portfolio.

Celsia’s solar platform C2 Energia, which builds solar farms greater than 8 MWp, boosted revenues and EBITDA by over 150% year-on-year during the first quarter. The Laurel platform, which works on solar projects below 8 MWp, posted a profit decline of 47.9% compared to the year-ago period.

The total installed solar capacity by C2 Energia is 300 MW across 17 operational plants. Laurel has so far built 90 solar power systems with a combined capacity of 34 MW, which generated 10.13 GWh in 2024.

(COP 1,000 = USD 0.257/EUR 0.239)

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