On June 2, local time in Ecuador, HEI, the Minas-San Francisco Hydro Power Project Owner CELEC SUR, the Supervisor HIDROJUBONES and the Project’s Civil Construction Handover and Acceptance Committee officially signed the minutes for final acceptance of civil construction of the Minas-San Francisco 3×90MW Hydro Power Project, marking the successful completion of the warranty for the civil construction works of the Project and its final accpetance to the Owner. So far, among numerous large-scale hydro power projects contracted by Chinese funded enterprises in Ecuador, the Minas-San Francisco Hydroelectric Project stands as the first and only hydro power plant for which final acceptance of civil construction works has been achieved.

As the third largest hydro power plant contracted by a Chinese funded enterprise in Ecuador, the Minas-San Francisco Hydroelectric Project is regarded as one of the most important hydraulic projects in Ecuador’s Pacific water system, which will improve and optimize Ecuador’s electric energy structure, provide more clean energy and promote local economic development. The Project adopts the EPC management pattern for its construction and it is equipped with three impulse water turbine generator units with unit capacity up to 90MW and maximum annual power output up to 129 million kWh. All the main power generation equipment of the Project, including water turbine generators, exciters and governors were designed, manufactured and supplied by HE and other auxiliary equipment was manufactured and supplied by Chinese manufacturers. Therefore, the Minas-San Francisco Hydro Power Project is a model project both “supported by HE” and “made by HE”.

The extremely complex geological conditions of the Minas-San Francisco Hydro Power Project initially posed a tremendous challenge in terms of project execution. In order to meticulously construct the first hydro power EPC project ever contracted by HE in the South American market and create a benchmarking project in the hydro power field, HEI overcame numerous difficulties by using several key technologies for civil construction. It adopted full-face raise boring equipment for excavation of the ventilation and cable shaft and the pressure shaft, in the first case of a Chinese-funded enterprise applying such equipment overseas. The 78m high roller-compacted concrete gravity dam is the first full roller-compacted concrete dam in Ecuador. With substantial rock hardness, a TBM was also adopted for excavation of the 14km headrace tunnel. Nine 230kV HV cables were laid in the ventilation and cable shaft, 440m deep of 6m in diameter, setting a record for both China and Ecuador for HV cable laying in the deepest shaft. It also made HEI one of the few enterprises in the world to have mastered this technology.

The Ecuadorian government paid great attention to the Minas-San Francisco Hydro Power Project during implementation, with high-ranking then government officials visiting the project site several times. On May 24, 2019, the President of Ecuador emphatically mentioned the Minas-San Francisco Hydro Power Project and the 500kV power transmission and transformation project contracted by HEI in a government report. He also lauded and fully affirmed both projects for providing job opportunities for local Ecuadorians and for promoting local energy development.