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Sunday night, in the program "Hora 25" of Teleamazonas, Gonzalo Uquillas, director of the Electric Corporation of Ecuador (Celec), explained that although Coca Codo Sinclair can not reach without difficulty a power of 1,100 Megawatts and not its maximum capacity of 1,500 megawatts. In two years of operation, it has generated 70% of the energy required by the country.

"It is a transit plant with a reservoir of 800,000 cubic meters, which represents between 20 and 30% of the electricity production," he said in the program led by Andrés Carrión.

Hugo Arcos, a teacher and researcher at the National Polytechnic School (EPN), said that this would jeopardize the energy supply in case of failure. "Imagine putting 25% of the installed power in a single plant, which creates a high risk of serious operational problems in the system," he said.

He said that the effective power of the national system is between 4,400 and 5,000 megawatts, of which 1,100 depend on Coca Codo Sinclair.

What does Sinohydro say
For its part, Uquillas said it would be possible to reach 1,500 megawatts if: "The eight units are available, the flow of water is sufficient and the transport network can generate these levels".

Iván Núñez, director of Sinohydro, stressed that the project had been built according to international standards. "It's important to note that Coca Codo is the best center in Latin America and the most modern," he said.

He also indicated that Sinohydro had carried out the works in accordance with the design devised by the authorities. "Every project built has outstanding problems, this is established in the contract, the rail painting is missing, but there are other technical problems to be solved and it is a process in which progress is made" he concluded.

Finally, Uquillas reminded that the final acceptance of the work will not be carried out if all the defects are not corrected. "At the moment, we are importing 3% of Colombia's energy demand, especially during the peak hours of the night, when Coca Codo does not reach its maximum level," he added. (JS)