Energy Minister claims blackout relief is coming soon, drops plan for more Turkish power barges

Energy Minister Inés Manzano said Monday that blackout hours will be reduced in the coming weeks and months and could end before the end of the year. “Some good things are happening that will alleviate the crisis,” she said Monday in an interview on Teleamazonas.

Energy Minister Inés Manzano

“We are leasing mobile thermal generation equipment that, some of which can be operational by the end of October,” Manzano said. “These units can be airlifted here immediately after the purchase is made.” She added that several units could be operational within 45 to 60 days, producing “several hundred megawatts” of electricity.

She said the mobile units will be installed at Pascual, Las Esclusas, Santa Elena and Quevedo.

In addition, Manzano said at least three thermal and two hydroelectric plants that have been offline for repairs and upgrades, will be operational in November and Decembre. More “good news,” she said was that Colombia is resuming power transfers to Ecuador. “They have received heavy rains in the past few weeks, relieving deficits in hydro production, and transferred a small amount of power to our grid last week. This will increase as their hydro generation increases.”

She added that upgrades to power lines between Ecuador and Peru are almost complete, which will allow higher levels of transfers between the two countries. In the recent months, she said, Peru could have sold more power to Ecuador but limited due to power line conditions.

Manzano acknowledged that a full recovery depends on rain refilling the Mazar reservoir located between Azuay and Canar provinces. “This is the biggest part of the puzzle and the rain in the last few days could be the beginning of the solution,” she said. “We have seen a small rise in the reservoir level since Friday, about two meters, and it is raining there today so we expect additional rise. The rains in the northern region of the country have allowed us to increase production at Coca Coda Sinclair, which has allowed us to temporarily suspend generation at Mazar. The weather forecast is for rain to increase in southern Ecuador, near Paute-Mazar, in the coming weeks.”

The decision to lease the mobile generation units means that the government will not need the two additional Turkish power barges that former Energy Minister Antonio Goncalves planned to add. “We have ended negotiations for the barges since the new on-land plants can add more power and cost less,” Manzano said. “This is a more practical solution based on our needs,”

“The barges, including the one already in operation at Guayaquil, would have produced about 350 megawatts by the end of the year but the mobile plants can produce more, depending on how many we bring in.”