The CCS Hydropower Station
Located in the Coca River, a secondary tributary of the Amazon River, the Coca Codo Sinclair Hydropower Station in Ecuador boasts of a total installed capacity of 1.5 million kW and an average annual power output of 8.7 billion kW·h. With a total investment of USD 2.3 billion, the Station is a strategic energy project in Ecuador, as well as the largest oversea hydropower station solely designed and constructed by Chinese companies. It was installed with the largest impulse turbine units.
The Station is mainly composed of a intake complex, headrace tunnels, a compensating reservoir, penstocks, and an underground powerhouse. The intake complex consists of a spillway, a flushing chamber, a sedimentation basin, and a concrete face rockfill dam. The headrace tunnel, with a total length of 24.8 km, an inner diameter of 8.20 m and a maximum design capacity of 222 m3/s, is the longest tunnel in South America.
The Underground Powerhouse
The construction of the Station was kicked off in July 2010. On November 18, 2016, then President Correa of Ecuador and President Xi Jinping of China jointly pressed the button of project completion and power generation. Up to the end of 2021, the cumulative power generation of the project has added up to 36,500 GW·h. Since put into operation, the Station has satisfied the power demand of 1/3 of the Ecuadorian population, thus transforming Ecuador from a power importer to an exporter. During the construction stage, the project created 7,739 jobs, greatly stepping up the local economic development. In April 2016, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Ecuador, causing heavy casualties and property losses. Standing in good state after the earthquake, CCS Hydropower Station was put into operation at full load, safeguarding power supply for the post-disaster reconstruction of Ecuador.