CARACAS (Dow Jones) -- A hydroelectric plant under construction should help Venezuela meet future supply needs as the country struggles with more blackouts due to surging electricity usage and a drought that has put a stress on power grids.

But the $4.3 billion Manuel Piar, or Tocoma plant, partly financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, is still five years from completion, even though earlier plans called for a 2010 finish.
Venezuelans probably better get accustomed to rolling blackouts and other challenges, as repairs to existing plants and energy conservation efforts are unlikely to do the trick.
For the past two months, state-run electricity company Corpoelec has been rationing electricity, cutting service one or two hours a day in many regional cities and towns. The capital, Caracas, will also take part in the cuts.
When the Tocoma plant finally comes online, Venezuela’s electrical-generation capacity will have risen 45% from current levels, President Hugo Chavez proudly announced Sunday during his weekly television show “Hello, President.” In 2014, Chavez said, the country’s installed electricity-generation capacity will be nearly 34,000 megawatts, which goes well beyond its current needs.
The Tocoma plant alone will add about 2,200 megawatts of capacity, added Angel Rodriguez, the country’s newly named minister for electrical energy. Some 6,000 workers are toiling away at the plant in eastern Bolivar state, and the government aims to beef it up to 8,000 laborers at some point.
---------What have you done for me lately?
But the five-year waiting period for the Tocoma plant, which began construction in 2007, has forced the government to implement other measures in the hopes of meeting short-term needs.
Earlier this month, it approved more than 400 million bolivars ($186 million) of spending on three dozen smaller projects that aim to boost capacity by about 1,500 megawatts. The measures mostly relate to fixing turbines and making other repairs to existing plants.
It also told state bodies to cut energy use by 20%, and is restricting imports of electrical equipment that aren’t energy efficient.
Chavez also told people to stop taking long showers, which could allow more water to flow to the hydropower plants. That would also help resolve Venezuela’s equally troubling problem, a shortage of water that leaves many residents’ taps dry.
Venezuela’s economy grew for five straight years until finally contracting mildly in the second quarter of this year. Chavez says those years of strong growth, combined with excessive electricity use by residents, made it impossible for the government to keep up with demand.
Part of the problem may also be that Chavez focused efforts in the past on projects that had little overall impact. In 2008, for example, the president announced he was importing 21 small electricity plants from Cuba, a close political ally. The plants are only designed for use in small towns, and as such critics say they make little sense in a country like Venezuela, whose electricity grid is so interconnected.
Chavez, who promotes what he calls “21st-Century socialism,” nationalized electricity production in 2007.
The Tocoma hydropower project will be the fourth such plant in the Lower Caroni River Valley, which provides the country with most of its electrical needs.