Ecuador:

Ecuador to See First Geothermal Operations in 2017 (Business News Americas)

(Courtesy CIA.gov)

This year's inauguration of the 15MW Villonaco wind farm in Ecuador will mark  Ecuador's state power generation holding company Celec's  first major step into the renewables field.

The company's renewables portfolio also includes projects to tap the country's geothermal power generation potential, hopefully by 2017.

Studies already have identified a number of prospects; among the top leads are Alcedo (150MW), Chacana (318MW), Chachimbiro (113MW), Chalpatán (51MW), Chalupas (283MW) and Tufiño (138MW).

Current development efforts target Chacana in provinces Napo and Pichincha, and Chachimbiro and Tufiño in Imbabura province.

Celec has penciled in Chacana and Chachimbiro to come online in January 2017, and Tufiño in January 2018.

Ecuador's effective capacity as of November was 4.84GW, of which 2.53GW was thermo, 2.22GW hydro, 93.4MW biomass, 2.4MW wind and 0.08MW solar, according to the country's sector planning authority Conelec.