Ecuador hires an additional 91 MW to address the energy crisis

Quito, Aug 11 (EFE).- Ecuador has contracted an additional 91 MW to address the energy crisis and mitigate the impact of the upcoming drought, the Andean country’s Energy Minister, Antonio Gonçalves, reported on Sunday.

On his social media account X, the minister reported that they awarded and signed an additional contract for 91 MW of thermal energy to be installed in Esmeraldas.

“With this, we have a total of 341 MW in emergency contracts to deal with the energy crisis and mitigate the impact of the upcoming drought,” he recalled, referring to the contracting of 250 MW made at the beginning of the month.

“We have awarded and signed the contracts for additional energy to be installed in Quevedo, Salitral and the leasing of floating generation in Las Esclusas, which add up to a total of 250 MW to deal with the energy crisis and the upcoming drought,” he said on August 6 on the aforementioned social network.

The processes have been carried out in compliance with the Ministerial Agreement of April 16, which declared a state of emergency in the electricity sector and issued provisions that allow for the acquisition and additional generation of energy.

Last month, the process of leasing a floating power plant began, which will soon arrive to address the country’s energy crisis and avoid new periods of blackouts and electricity rationing such as those experienced at the end of 2023 and in April of this year.

Last month, Gonçalves said that the rental contract for the floating power plant was awarded to the Turkish company Karpower, for a period of 18 months in exchange for 115 million dollars.

The official said the ship is expected to be able to supply energy to Ecuador starting this August, with a capacity of approximately 110 megawatts.

At the end of 2023 and in mid-April, two periods of drought exposed the problems of the national electricity sector, which is highly dependent on hydroelectric energy and supplies from Colombia, causing scheduled blackouts and electricity rationing lasting up to 13 hours in some parts of the country.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency in April due to public calamity.

It is estimated that every hour of power rationing causes losses of around 12 million dollars in the country.