2024-10-05 02:56:50
The sky began to fail from March and the drought became deep in April. For this reason, a few days before the popular consultation, the Noboa Government had to announce blackouts of up to 8 to 9 hours a day, denounce internal sabotage, remove Arrobo from office and appoint him as super minister, in charge of both Transportation and Works. Public such as Energy and Mines, Roberto Luque.
Once again, the increase in rains, and the reactivation of the energy imports from Colombiathey made the blackouts they become shorter and shorter and will end up being suspended; but the structural problems are still there.
Last weekend and on Monday, June 17, 2024, the Government announced several times that there would be blackouts, outage schedules were issued from distribution companies; they were then discarded and reconfirmed several times.
Coca Elbow Sinclair It is a time bomb due to its serious design problems and regressive erosion in the Coca River. If it rains a lot, the reservoir fills with sediments that cannot be evacuated automatically, but manually, and that means stopping the operation of a plant that generates up to 25% of the energy consumed per day.
In this context, the big question is whether the country is ready for the next dry season (dry season), which could arrive between August and September 2024.
Additional power procurement is on the way, but will take at least 3 months
According to an interview with the general manager of Celec (Electric Corporation of Ecuador)Fabián Calero, within approximately three months we could have additional electrical energy generation to make up at least in part for the shortcomings of the fragile Ecuadorian system.
Calero explained that they are targeting the acquisition or rental of barges and thermoelectric generators that come in containers (rapid installation), which are already being installed in Quevedo (Los Ríos), where they are close to incorporating 32 units and eight more units in the province of Santa Elena, which together will contribute 62 megawatts (MW) to the country’s electrical system.
The general manager of Celec assured that they are already working on the bidding processes, whether for barges or thermoelectric generators. The purchase and not the rental of these types of solutions will be prioritized.
Supposedly, work has already been done on the pre-contractual process, reports and studies, so the acquisition process would be launched in the coming weeks.
No further details are known about these planned purchases, which in the case of the barges generated criticism and complaints during the last months of the Lasso Government.
LA HORA has requested an interview with a Celec spokesperson to obtain greater details and clarifications about the situation of the electricity crisis, but so far no response has been obtained.
Minister Luque himself has said on multiple occasions that the Ecuadorian system has up to 1,000 megawatts of generation deficit when hydroelectric plants do not operate at their highest capacity due to climate issues.
Furthermore, on June 17, 2024, Luque warned that constant monitoring must be done because the situation can change quickly from one moment to the next.
According to Celec, in general, the short, medium and long-term measures that are being promoted without the following:
-Incorporation of a new emerging generation (a mobile generation that is quick to install).
-Improve the unavailability of the general thermoelectric park.
– Incorporation of new technologies such as energy storage in the electrical system.
However, there are no certainties as to when new blackouts will occur and if Ecuador will really be ready for the drought of the latter part of 2024. (JS)