LatinNews Daily - 18 September 2024

*Ecuador’s state-owned power generation company, Corporación Eléctrica del Ecuador (Celec), has announced that a floating power barge hired from the Turkish company Karpowership has been brought online. The barge will provide 100MW to Ecuador’s power grid, which has been beset by energy shortages for nearly a year due to low water levels at hydroelectric stations. Celec also announced yesterday that troops have been deployed to the Mazar hydroelectric power station in Cañar province, where they will assist with operations and provide security. Celec said that the troops’ arrival is part of a wider deployment of soldiers to energy infrastructure around Ecuador, beginning with Mazar and the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric station in Napo province. Nocturnal blackouts have been planned for the entire country from 23-26 September in an effort to ease pressure on the electricity grid, with Interior Minister Mónica Palencia saying on 16 September that the military will enforce a curfew during the blackouts.