Energy crisis in Ecuador: Government implements rationing and advances deals with Colombia

The Ecuadorian Government announced that this Saturday and Sunday there will be blackouts of up to twelve hours, distributed in different time slots throughout the countryat a time when eight hours had been announced since Friday.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines reported this Saturday in a statement that, due to scheduled and emergency maintenance at the Agoyán, San Francisco and other thermal plants, as well as the new historical lows recorded in flows, “emerging electricity rationing schedules” will be implemented.

“These rationings will be in effect from this Saturday and tomorrow, Sunday,”with a duration of up to 12 hours a day”, at the national level, he noted.

The Ministry pointed out that, during November, new historical lows have been recorded in the flows of the Mazar Hydroelectric Plant, which is part of the Paute Integral Hydroelectric Complex, and the Coca Codo Sinclair Hydroelectric Plant, which has impacted energy generation and supply.

“These maintenances are essential to ensure the continuity and safety of the National Electrical System, as well as to prevent major failures,” he pointed out.

Ecuarodr negotiates energy with Colombia

The Ministry announced that the conclusion of the negotiations with Colombia is expected next week.which will allow a significant relief in the country’s energy supply.

On the other hand, the Government has announced that “After more than 14 years of waiting, the Alluriquín hydroelectric plant will finally begin to generate energy.”

“We have started the countdown. At the end of December we will have electricity from the plant,” said the acting Minister of Energy and Mines, Inés Manzano.

The announcement came after the closing of the gates of the Toachi River dam, which will allow water to accumulate to begin testing and subsequent operation of the new plant. hydroelectric plant that has a power of 204 megawatts (mw).

The filling of the reservoir will be carried out in 45 days and will be carried out progressively, to avoid effects in the infrastructure of the dam and river slopes.

The functional tests of the generation units will begin immediately, which is the main use of the Toachi Pilatón project.

The dam built on the Toachi River is 60 meters high and 170.50 meters wide, while the reservoir has a llength of 3 kilometers and a storage capacity of 6.77 million cubic meters of water.

As planned, the start of operation of the first unit will be at the end of December, the second in January and the third in February, which will complete the 204 MW of power that this hydroelectric plant has.

Ecuador is going through an energy crisis due to dependence on its hydroelectric plants, affected by the worst drought in the last 60 yearsaccording to the Government, which has forced the country to carry out scheduled blackouts in different time slots.

The electrical generation matrix of Ecuador depends more than 70% on hydroelectric plants, especially Coca Codo Sinclair, the largest hydroelectric plant in the country, with 1,500 megawatts of power; and in the Mazar reservoir, which feeds a complex of three power plants on the Paute River, with a combined power of more than 1,700 megawatts.