QUITO (Askume) – Ecuador will impose a series of eight-hour nightly blackouts across the Andean nation, the government said late on Monday, citing a severe drought that is affecting hydropower plants as water levels drop.
Ecuador is mired in a power crisis that the government blames on a lack of maintenance of existing dams and contracts to secure new generation, as well as the country’s worst drought in 61 years.
The government said in a post
It’s unclear how many weeks the cuts will last.
“The established deadlines were chosen with the aim of having as little impact as possible on the development of production activities and working days,” the post said.
This measure is in addition to the power cuts planned this Wednesday to carry out preventive maintenance on all transmission facilities and distribution lines across the country.
The government has taken a number of measures to tackle the crisis, including commissioning a power ship, building permanent generators on land and improving abandoned infrastructure, the statement said.
According to officials, Ecuador needs an additional 1,000 megawatts (or 1 gigawatt) of electricity to meet national demand.
