Posted on 12/29/2018 2:57:54 PM PST by rktman
The New York Times published an interesting story on Christmas Eve about continuing fallout from the economic decisions made by former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. Correa is a socialist who served two terms between 2007 and 2017. His time in office was highlighted by a rejection of Ecuador’s debt (he defaulted) and American influence in the country. Instead, he invited China to come into the country and accepted $19 billion in loans for infrastructure projects in exchange for 90% of Ecuador’s oil production until the cost of the projects was paid off. The largest of the projects was the Coca Codo Sinclair dam. The dam was supposed to generate enough electricity to power a third or more of the country’s needs. But the reality has been something quite different.
When it finally opened in late 2016, China’s president, Xi Jinping, flew to Ecuador to celebrate.
Yet only two days before the visit, the dam was in chaos.
Engineers had tried to generate the project’s full 1500 megawatts, but neither the facility nor Ecuador’s electrical grid could handle it. The equipment shuddered dangerously, and blackouts spread across the country, officials said.
Ecuadoreans were never told about the failure, and a full power test has not been attempted since.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
“We Want the World and we want it Now”
When the music’s over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkKRU1ajKFA
AOC recommends scrapping the dam and building windmills. She is the 21st century Marmaduke Surfaceblow.
The largest of the projects was the Coca Codo Sinclair dam. The dam was supposed to generate enough electricity to power a third or more of the country’s needs. But the reality has been something quite different.
Sounds familiar.
The Aswan Dam, built at enormous expense to improve the lot of the Egyptian peasant, has caused the Nile to deposit its fertilizing sediment in Lake Nasser, where it is unavailable. Egyptian fields must now be artificially fertilized. Gigantic fertilizer plants have been built to meet the new need. The plants require enormous amounts of electricity. The dam must operate at capacity merely to supply the increased need for electricity which was created by the building of the dam.- John Gall, General Systemantics
Marmaduke Surfaceblow! I haven’t heard that name in years. Does Power magazine still print those little stories?
“But China still gets 90% of the oil...and Ecuador’s President has a big fat nest egg hidden somewhere in the Caribbean.”
And Ecuador uses the U.S. dollar as their currency.
“We are the World.
.”
Never mind; I just looked on Amazon and learned that they quit doing the stories in 1979 (now I feel old). You can get a used copy of the collected stories for around $280, or a pdf for around $100.
They have cancelled their subscription to the resurrection.
I just KNEW I’d surface another old power engineer with that reference!
I have no idea if they still write about him. I lived to read of his monthly exploits in the 70s when I was in the biz.
1979! Yikes. “Old” is the word for us. I left the power industry field service engineering gig in 1978.
Common practice in these deals is 10% under the table for Chinese officials and 15% for corrupt locals. Project quality is optional, certainly
not a requirement.
Full disclosure: I was never a power engineer. I ran across the stories in the college library back then. I would read just about anything to keep from studying, and some of those diversions took me far afield. I miss browsing in libraries; the Internet just isn’t the same.
Well yeah. That’s the usual modus operandi for true socialist head cheese types. Just look at uncle burnme. How many houses you got?
I know what you mean. When I was over-saturated with studying, I would go peruse journals from 1900 to 1920. That was fantastic fun, an experience you just don’t get online.
Musical references bump
Interesting article. Thanks for posting.
I should forward it to occasional cortex. Except she still wouldn’t get it.
Occasional has no clue.
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