Elecaustro Starts Building Cuenca's First Solar Farm at Huascachaca

Solar Panels in the Southern Highlands

Elecaustro, the regional power company that serves Cuenca and surrounding areas, has begun construction on a solar photovoltaic plant at the Huascachaca Wind Park in Saraguro canton, Loja province.

The project is modest in scale — 846 solar panels across half a hectare, generating 0.5 megawatts of capacity — but it represents a meaningful step for a utility that's historically been almost entirely dependent on hydroelectric power.

If 2024 taught us anything, it's that putting all your energy eggs in the hydro basket gets risky when the rains don't come.

The Numbers

Why This Matters

Two reasons:

1. Energy diversification after the blackout crisis. Ecuador's 2024 energy emergency — rolling blackouts across the country caused by drought depleting hydroelectric reservoirs — exposed a critical vulnerability. The country generates roughly 80% of its electricity from hydro. Any drought, and the lights go out.

Solar doesn't depend on rain. It generates during the day regardless of reservoir levels. Even a small solar installation adds resilience to the grid.

2. Self-sufficiency for Elecaustro's operations. According to Elecaustro manager Marco Toledo, the plant will cover 100% of the company's own electrical demand across its facilities connected to Centrosur's grid. That means the utility itself stops drawing from the public supply — freeing up capacity for everyone else.

Environmental Impact

The installation is projected to reduce CO₂ emissions by 423 tons annually and save approximately 53,700 gallons of fuel per year. Not world-changing numbers, but real reductions for a single facility.

The Bigger Picture

Huascachaca is already home to a wind farm, making this a hybrid renewable energy site — wind plus solar on the same property. That's smart planning. Wind and solar tend to complement each other: wind often picks up when solar drops off (cloudy days, evenings), and vice versa.

For Cuenca residents who lived through the 2024 blackouts — some neighborhoods going 8-12 hours without power — every megawatt of non-hydro capacity matters. This is a small project, but it's the direction the region needs to be heading.

Source: El Mercurio