Reviewed archive · September 10, 2026
Ecuador–Peru power link: two dated license announcements
Originally published September 10, 2026 · Reviewed September 25, 2026
Ecuador's Ministry of Environment and Energy announced on September 9, 2026 that ARCONEL had granted an environmental license for the 500-kV Ecuador–Peru transmission project, covering construction, operation, maintenance and closure. The ministry described an Ecuadorian line from Chorrillos through Pasaje to the border and a planned investment of $277.7 million. These are the ministry's dated statements, not evidence that construction or power exchange had begun.
There is an earlier public record. CELEC EP stated in May 2023 that it had obtained an environmental license for an Ecuador–Peru 500-kV interconnection under resolution MAATE-SCA-2023-0006-R. CELEC described a 207-kilometer Chorrillos–Pasaje section and a 77-kilometer Pasaje–border section. The 2026 ministry notice gives a combined 284.85 kilometers. The public summaries reviewed here do not explain how the two license announcements relate; this page does not characterize the 2026 action as the project's first permit, an amendment or a replacement.
The Inter-American Development Bank's project page, with financial information reported September 21, 2026, lists the Ecuadorian-line program as 'Implementation.' It records a $125 million approved IDB amount and a total project cost of $263.62 million in that financing record. Those figures have a different source and reporting context from the ministry's $277.7 million planned investment, so they are not interchangeable contract prices.
The ministry said the link was planned to enter service in 2029. That is a target, not a completed outcome. A license announcement and an implementation label do not establish an award, construction progress, a commissioning date or future cross-border flows; each would need its own later project record.
Sources
This is a dated archive item. Publishing is paused, and later developments may have changed the situation.