Fed by the Magdalena River, the $1.2bn power plant is designed to generate about 2.2 TWh per year, and can meet about 4% of the total electricity generation in the country.
Construction on the El Quimbo power plant started in late 2010 to meet the growing electricity demand in the region.
Following completion of the principal civil works, the company stated 3.2 billion cubic meters reservoir filling in late June, following which the first of the two units was put in to service.
The second unit of the facility is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of next week.
Enel CEO Francesco Starace said: "El Quimbo has already recorded a number of firsts. It is the most impressive engineering work built by the Enel Group in the last six years, is one of Enel’s largest hydropower investments in South America and is also the first privately financed power plant in Colombia.
"This facility further strengthens the Group’s presence in the region, where we will be involved with significant investments in all sectors of our value chain in the coming years."
Work under the project also includes the construction of new housing units and building of nine bridges, including the largest viaduct in the country.
Power generated from the facility will be sold to Colombia’s Comision de Regulacion de Energia y Gas (CREG) under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
The commissioning of the El Quimbo has increased the installed power generation capacity of Enel from hydro, oil and gas and coal to nearly 3,500MW in Colombia.
