Ecuador’s electricity crisis persists, but relief efforts are on the way.

 Even though the new generators won’t start running until November 2024, President Daniel Noboa has announced that electricity rationing schedules will be eased starting on October 21st. With the Mazar reservoir dangerously low and Colombia limiting its electricity exports to Ecuador, the government has been scrambling to find solutions to a crisis that has led to prolonged blackouts across the country.

On October 17th, Noboa took to Instagram to provide some hope, explaining that 1,164 megawatts of new electricity will be added between November and the first quarter of 2025. Though the full benefits won’t be felt immediately, the announcement of reduced

outages later this month offers at least some respite in the short term.

First Installments: 241 Megawatts in November

Noboa explained that the first phase of relief will come from three contracts initiated in July to buy onshore power generation engines, bringing in 241 megawatts. The first delivery is scheduled for Quevedo, where a 50-megawatt contract was awarded to Progen on August 2nd for $49.7 million. This project is expected to be operational by November 5th.

Another 100 megawatts will come from Salitral, in Guayas, with a contract also awarded to Progen for $99 million. The engines for this project should start running by November 30th.

However, the third batch—90 megawatts for La Propicia in Esmeraldas—will take longer, with the engines set to arrive by December 26th under a separate $89 million contract with Austral Technical Management.

300 Megawatts of Rental Engines by December

To meet immediate demand, the government is also renting thermoelectric engines that can run on both diesel and gas, with a combined capacity of 300 megawatts.

Of these, 40 megawatts will be installed in El Guabo, El Oro, with the contract awarded on October 15th.

The remaining 260 megawatts will follow shortly after, with the bidding process closing on October 20th and the engines expected to be operational by December 24.

Toachi Pilatón Project Resurfaces

Meanwhile, the government has also turned its attention back to the long-delayed Toachi Pilatón Hydroelectric Complex, which was supposed to be a major piece of Ecuador’s energy infrastructure.

Construction on the project began in 2011, but only the Sarapullo plant, with a capacity of 49 megawatts, has been operational since March 2023.

The larger Alluriquín plant, with a capacity of 204 megawatts, has been stuck in limbo for years. However, Noboa has announced that this plant will finally begin operations in stages, with the first turbine coming online in December 2024, followed by the second in January 2025, and the third by February.

This accelerated schedule follows new negotiations with the Russian contractor Tyazhmash, which had originally planned to deliver the turbines by April 2025.

In addition to these efforts, the government is planning to acquire another 410 megawatts of generating capacity by March 2025. As part of this plan, 100 megawatts are already being supplied by a floating power plant leased from the Turkish company Karpowership, which began operating on September 16, 2024. While the government had initially explored the option of renting two more barges, those plans have now been dropped.

Though it will take time for these measures to fully stabilize the system, Ecuadorians can expect some improvement starting at the end of October, with more significant progress by early 2025 as new capacity gradually comes online.

Noboa’s strategy relies on a combination of temporary rentals, newly installed engines, and finally bringing hydroelectric projects online after years of delays.

However, the timeline remains tight, and the government will need everything to go according to plan to avoid further setbacks. Delays in equipment delivery or installation could complicate the situation, and weather patterns will continue to play a role in power availability. With the public growing increasingly frustrated by the ongoing blackouts, the government faces intense pressure to act swiftly.

For now, there is hope that the worst of the outages may soon be behind Ecuador. If everything stays on schedule, the country could see some relief by November, with a path to greater stability unfolding through the first months of 2025.