Comparative cost per kilowatt of the latest hydropower projects in Ecuador

Abstract:

Hydropower is the largest renewable source globally used, and in Ecuador, by 2020, the energy grid was 77% hydroelectric, but the costs with which these projects are developed generate questioning between the cost and benefit of said investments due to the social, environmental and cultural impacts created. Through a quantitative methodology based on inclusion and exclusion terms that developed comparisons, it was found that the last five hydropower projects in Ecuador inaugurated in the period 2015-2019 contain higher costs than the global average in comparison by the calculation by the International Renewable Energy Agency, specifically, for Coca Codo Sinclair, there is a 79% increase, 34% for Sopladora, 21% for Minas San Francisco, 12% for Delsintagua and 119% for the Manduriacu plant. In addition, the global average cost calculated by IRENA in 2020 was 1,472 USD/kW in the average case of 499 MW in Ecuador, there is a cost of 2,018 USD/kW, an additional 37% value for comparison. Investment decisions in new hydropower projects should be improved based on data from existing plants, seeking to mitigate the impacts, doing critical analysis, and defining the country goals with the involved communities.

Año de publicación:

2022

Keywords:

Fuente:

google