Ecuador Faces Nationwide Blackout

Ecuador was hit by a countrywide power outage on Wednesday afternoon, with the public work minister attributing the emergency to a failure in a crucial transmission line. The minister, Roberto Luque, revealed that the national electricity operator, CENACE, reported a transmission line malfunction that led to a chain reaction disconnecting power supply across the nation.

The authorities are actively engaged in resolving the blackout promptly to restore normalcy. The South American country, home to 18 million people, has been grappling with an energy crisis marked by deteriorating infrastructure, insufficient maintenance, and heavy reliance on imported energy, resulting in periodic blackouts. However, the current outage is unprecedented in its scale and impact.

At approximately 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday, a vast majority of Ecuador’s population was left without electricity. The country heavily relies on energy imports from Colombia, a nation also facing challenges in meeting its own energy demands. Ecuador had pinned hopes on the $2.25 billion Coca Codo Sinclair Dam, a massive hydroelectric project constructed by China. Situated along the Coca River in Napo province, 62 miles east of Quito, the dam represents Ecuador’s most significant energy initiative aimed at combating its power shortage.