Andrea Arrobo

Andrea Arrobo Peña (born c.1991) is an Ecuadorian who became her country's minister of energy in 2023. She had to resign the following year in the light of continuing blackouts.

Life
Arroba was born in about 1991. She attended the Universidad de los Hemisferios. It is a small university in Quito established in 2004. She studied International Relations before she sent to Spain to obtain her master's degree from the University of Barcelona.

In 2012 she began her career at Ecuador's Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy. She gained expertise particularly in the use of Hydrogen as a fuel working for a French company. She came to notice when Guillermo Lasso appointed her as the Vice Minister of Governance. She assisted in February 2023 with the popular consultation campaign.

Lasso resigned and after the resulting Presidential election Daniel Noboa became the country's youngest ever President. He had already named Arroba as the prospective energy minister. Noboa was appointed with a large number of his ministers in November 2023. Arroboa was appointed Minister of Energy and Mines on 12 December 2023. She was the first woman to hold this position in Ecuador. At the time of her appointment there was already problems as the country's hydro-electric plants were not creating enough power and this resulted in electricity blackouts.

In the following April the blackouts were still continuing and a new set of blackouts was announced. Noboa asked for her resignation on 16 April. She was the second minister to resign as Ana Changuín had resigned the previous month. He demanded an investigation into alleged sabotage at some of the hydro-electric plants and he declared an emergy emergency.

Her successor Roberto Luque accused her, and her former team, of hiding crucial information.