Ecuador has power rationing due to continued drought

  On October 9, local time, the Ministry of Energy of Ecuador announced that due to the severe energy situation, the Ecuadorian government has activated the newly arranged power rationing measures, and will implement nationwide power rationing from the 9th to the 13th of this month, with a power outage of 10 hours per day.

  The Ministry of Energy said that the drought has caused the water level of the Mazar Hydropower Station in Azuay Province in the south of the country to approach the critical level. As of the evening of the 8th of this month, the water level of the hydropower station was only 3 meters higher than the critical water level stipulated by the national power operator. If the water level continues to drop, it will damage the turbines used for power generation. Therefore, power rationing measures must be resolutely taken to avoid the collapse of the national power system.

  72% of Ecuador's energy structure relies on hydropower. The severe drought continues to reduce the water storage capacity of the reservoirs of hydropower plants, greatly reducing production capacity, resulting in Ecuador's uninterrupted implementation of power rationing and power rationing measures since September 22.

  The Ecuadorian government announced on the 21st that due to the worst drought in 61 years, the country will start implementing power rationing measures ahead of local time on the 22nd.

  The Ecuadorian presidential palace said in a statement on the same day that it had originally planned to implement a power rationing system from the 23rd to the 26th, but since the country has not seen any rainfall for more than 70 consecutive days, it decided to implement additional power restrictions in 12 provinces from 8:00 to 17:00 on the 22nd to "protect water resources." Relevant departments will also issue necessary supplementary measures after evaluating the water shortage situation in the country and provinces.