The commissioning of the new generation capacities was the key driver. Overall, there are ten operating hydropower plants in the country with the total capacity of 4.5 GW, and 5 of them (for 2.61 GW) were commissioned between 2014 and 2019. It includes the biggest HPP in Ecuador Coca Codo Sinclair of 1.5 GW, and also such HPPs as Mazár (170 MW), Delsitanisagua (180 MW), Sopladora (487 MW) and Minas San Francisco (276 MW). Ecuador has favourable natural and climatic conditions including mountainous landscape and numerous rivers, which is beneficial for the construction of HPPs. Hence, HPP Coca Codo Sinclair in the Eastern part of the country is located at the Coca River downstream of the Quijos and the Consanga Rivers confluence. The second biggest HPP Paute was built on the Paute River, the tributary of the Santiago River.
Apart from HPP, the fuel oil fired power plants (CHPPs) play an important role in the energy sector of Ecuador; in 2022, they accounted for 23.6% of the total power generation. Fuel oil fired CHPPs allow for balancing the energy system during the dry season from October until March. Their high share in the energy mix is underpinned by the availability of feedstock: Ecuador is the fifth biggest oil producing country in Central and South America. According to the Energy Institute, in 2022, oil production in the country constituted 481 thou bbl per day. Ecuador is behind Brazil (3.11 mln bbl per day), Columbia (754 thou bbl per day), Venezuela (731 thou bbl per day) and Argentine (706 thou bbl per day).
Natural gas is another source of power generation for Ecuador, however, due to the shortage of feedstock local gas fired CHPPs in 2022 had only 0.6% share in the total generation. The share of all other sources cumulatively was only 1.4%: they include wind generators (Huascachaca is the biggest wind farm in the country of 50 MW), as well as power plants using biomass (sugar cane, oil palm and rice hulls).
