Ecuador withdraws from contentious China hydroelectric power disagreement
In the high seismic activity zone of Ecuador, the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant, designed to provide a third of the national demand for energy, has faced numerous challenges. The plant, operated by PowerChina, is vulnerable to natural disasters due to its location and processes of retrogressive erosion.
Last winter, conditions in the Amazon increased the flow of the Coca River, causing the destruction of containment works and deepening the riverbed, exacerbating the risk to infrastructure. This event, coupled with heavy rains in July 2025, led to sediment accumulation, temporarily suspending the plant's operations.
Despite these challenges, the plant played a significant role during the 2024 drought. Almost a third of the country's electricity came from Coca Codo Sinclair, despite it only functioning partially. The plant, which was commissioned to operate due to the Ecuadorian government's desire for continuity and expertise in managing the facility after its construction, was designed to produce over 8,700 gigawatt-hours of energy per year.
However, the mega-project, backed by a loan of 1.7 billion dollars from the China Export-Import (Exim) Bank and managed by Chinese company Sinohydro, ended up costing more than twice as much as initially planned.
Between January and July 2025, the plant went out of operation 19 times. The retrogressive erosion of the Coca River has also destroyed nearby infrastructure and is currently 4 kilometers from the hydroelectric plant's water intake.
To address these issues, more than 150 million dollars have been allocated for studies, design, consultancies, and engineering works related to the erosion of the Coca River from 2020 to the present.
Despite the challenges, Inty Grønneberg, an Ecuadorian mechanical engineer and scientist, believes that having PowerChina in charge of the hydroelectric plant is the best possible solution.
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