Several provinces of Ecuador were surprised by a sudden blackout on Friday, after a series of scheduled power cuts were announced on Wednesday in response to the country’s energy crisis and the drought affecting its main hydroelectric plants.
The power outage lasted approximately 45 minutes, according to Fabián Calero, general manager of the state-owned Ecuadorian Electric Corporation (CELEC), in an interview with Teleamazonas.
The cause of Friday’s blackout was attributed to a fault that is being identified, possibly the fall of a tree.
Six provinces in Ecuador affected by power outages
Of the country’s 24 provinces, six were affected by this problem, one of them being La Pichincha, where the capital Quito is located, as well as Guayas, where Guayaquil is located, the most populated city and the main economic hub of the country.
It is worth noting that the first scheduled blackout was experienced on Wednesday night, with outages in sectors and areas of the country lasting between two and five hours, within the time slot between 10:00 p.m. local time (3:00 GMT) and 6:00 a.m. local time (11:00 GMT).
The scheduled blackouts are expected to be repeated next week, from Monday to Thursday nights.
“Our country is highly dependent on hydroelectricity. This crisis is a water crisis. It does not only affect the electricity sector. It is not a matter of maintenance. It is a matter of the fact that there is no water, and the short-term solution is precisely the incorporation of thermal generation that will allow us to have a firm generation,” said Calero.
The general manager of the public company Celec did not clarify whether the blackouts will continue until the first months of 2025, indicating only that between November and December 241 megawatts of power will be incorporated in thermoelectric plants.
This is the third period of blackouts in less than a year, after one that occurred at the end of 2023 and another that occurred in mid-April this year, due to climatic factors that affected its main hydroelectric plants.
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2024-09-23 05:24:19
