Rain near Coca Codo allows Mazar reservoir level to recover; Weekend rain chances increase

The Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant increased production Monday and Tuesday as a result of recent rains in Napo Province, Energy Minister Antonio Goncalves said. “What is important is that the extra generation allowed us to turn off the turbines at Paute-Mazar, which allowed the Mazar reservoir water level to increase,” he said. After losing a meter a day in recent weeks, the water level at Mazar improved by about two meters, he added.

Increased electric generation at the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant allowed the Mazar reservoir level to recover on Monday and Tuesday.

“This is a temporary recovery and does mean the crisis is over,” Goncalves said. “What is important is that it allows us time for needed maintenance at the three plants at Mazar and means those facilities can continue to be productive.”

In other encouraging news, Goncalves said the national Meteorology Institute (Inahi) has increased rain chances for the weekend.

“The weak high-pressure area over the Amazon is breaking down and this will allow more cloud formation in the inter-Andean valley and the eastern Andean foothills,” said Bolívar Erazo, director of Inahi on Tuesday. “We are not able to predict rainfall amounts but are confident that probabilities have increased.”

According to Erazo, this is the time of year when rain chances increase for the inter-mountain region due to increasing humidity levels in the Amazon and the weakening of the Humboldt Current in the Pacific Ocean. “There is a delicate balance of weather factors, which make prediction difficult,” he said. “We are certainly not predicting the end of the drought or suggesting the crisis with hydroelectric generation is over, but we are saying that the short-term situation is favorable.”

In his comments, Goncalves acknowledged problems at Coca Codo Sinclair have “greatly reduced” its potential generation. “We are working to correct the sedimentation issue, which restrains electric production, but we face ongoing problems there.”

He added that low flow rates on the Coca River have also been an issue due to the drought. “There is no reservoir at Coca Codo since it operates with the newer flow-through technology. On the other hand, the flow rate determines how much power the turbines can produce.”