Hidro Intag

rganizing and democratic participation that won for Cotacachi County the “City of Peace” prize
(UNESCO-2002). The project’s purpose is to use in a sustainable fashion the hydric resources of the Intag River basin to generate and sell energy to the national grid. The project entails running 9 hydroelectric power plants, for a total of 100Mw of energy, on rivers in 7 rural parishes, meeting optimum criteria for economic, social and environmental benefits. The HidroIntag System was conceived as an initiative of public sector and the community as the legitimate manager of water, compatible with the spirit of the Republic of Ecuador’s new Constitution. Thus, the project will contribute to the conservation of more than 440 km2 of native forests which are the source of multiple springs, rivers, and streams in the buffer zone of the Cotacachi-Cayapas Reserve, which is part of the Chocó-Tropical Andes Bioregion, one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet. The project will create integrated environmental management of watershed and promote a non-extractivist local economy, compatible with the values contained in the County Environmental Plan and the strategic guidelines of Imbabura Province. As local governments and community organizations own the project, all benefits from the sale of energy will be invested in regional development, for the well-being of our population. The System has been developed with the technical assistance of CUBASOLAR (a Cuban institution dedicated to renewable energy), French aid (NGO Energie Sans Frontières, CCAS – the social action committee of EDF, the state electric company, and engineers with vast experience in preparing studies, building and operating power plants in a
number of countries) and of a collective of Ecuadorian professionals, some of whom worked for INECEL, the state electric entity.