The Shushufindi electrical substation, capable of transmitting energy from an interconnected system (hydroelectric plant), has been planned since 2013, and construction was completed in February 2018 for the price of 27 million dollars. It was created together with the Jivino substation, which is smaller, with the aim of “Meet demand for electricity from the oil system and replace thermoelectric generation.”

Five years after the completion of the works, the Shushufindi substation under full voltage, ready for operation and located only 3 kilometers from the refinery and the field of the same name, has not completed the interconnection process. At the moment, the huge infrastructure, built by the Chinese company Harbin and AG Construcciones, remains a kind of white elephant, unused.

The existence of this unused substation is a revealing and controversial fact amid the electrical problems experienced by the oil sector in Sucumbíos, which have led to the loss of thousands of barrels of production in the last year and four months.

Possibility for interconnection does not seem close, although a proposal was made on January 30th that seems perfectly viable for the purpose, but could not be treated. Gonzalo Uquillas, manager of Celec, indicated in an official communication to the then manager of Petroecuador, Hugo Aguiar, that after technical meetings between Celec and Petroecuador officials, “a preliminary analysis was carried out on the feasibility of establishing an electrical connection from the 230/138 kV Shushufindi substation from Celec to Petroleum Electric System (SEIP) in charge of EP Petroecuador”. This could be achieved “with the installation of a mobile substation 138/69 kV”.

The release, in turn, indicates that this would enable an increase in the delivery of clean electricity to the petroleum-based electricity system. The idea was also for the joint work team to hold an initial meeting on February 7, 2023, at which the work schedule would be determined “so that this new relationship could be materialized as soon as possible.”

However, at that time, the affair of alleged corruption in state-owned companies had already broken out, and on February 10 Aguiar resigned before being fired by the board. Now the problem could start all over again with the new manager in charge of Petroecuador, María Elisa Soledispa.

Petroecuador gave a brief official response on that topic stating that “the construction of the final interconnection with the Shushufindi substation of 138 KV is included in the public selection procedure (PPS) Northeast transmission system project which will increase reliability and improve energy supply”. They refer to one of the ongoing concession procedures. He also indicated that the Petroleum Interconnected Electric System currently receives hydroelectric power from the National Interconnected System through the Jivino substation, which has been operated by the Electricity Corporation of Ecuador-Celec EP since September 2017. This bidding process that started in December 2021 is still in the bidding process phase. preparation of bids. It is expected that technical and economic bids will be opened at the end of March. A concession would already be made in June.

However, this is what Minister Fernando Santos told this newspaper from the Ministry of Energy “It must be admitted that the interests of companies producing power with diesel were so powerful that this tender to connect Amazon to the national system has failed five times. There is a substation that is ready to operate in Amazonia (Shushufindi), but Petroecuador has not built the line and it is already live,” he said a few months ago.

Previously, since 2018, there have been several attempts to strengthen interconnection. In March of that year, an agreement was signed between Celec and Petroecuador for the implementation of interconnection projects. One of the clauses indicated that the Eastern Zone Energy Efficiency Project would be implemented: “230 kV Interconnection, Shushufindi-Edén Yuturi (EPF)-Apaika-Nenke (ECB)-Tiputini and 138 kV Interconnection, Shushufindi-Tarapoa, 69 kV Interconnection Tarapoa- Cuyabeno and Loreto-Oso”.

In December 2022, the Deputy Minister of Electricity sent a statement to Petroecuador he addressed the manager(s) Reinaldo Armijos at that time and gives him a summary of the agreement which were held between Celec and Petroecuador for the Shushufindi interconnection, which did not bear fruit. He concludes his letter by stating: “Petroecuador has not been able to carry out the actions planned to connect the oil interconnected electrical system to the national interconnected system, via the 138 kV Shushufindi substation.”

The delays seem incomprehensible if you consider that the cost of consuming energy produced by imported diesel is significantly more expensive and that in the last year and four months alone, at least four major power outages have been recorded in this sector.

About the topic, Jorge Luis Hidalgo, energy expert and director of Green Power, explained that “The Shushufindi substation has been energized since 2018 and is ready for operation, but simply due to carelessness it was not connected only 3 km to the Shushufindi Refinery”. He assures that Petroecuador could be supplied with electricity from hydroelectric plants at a price close to $ 0.07 percent kilowatt hour vs. over $0.35 is what it currently costs to produce more than 60 MW of thermoelectric power with imported diesel.

Say what users with a lack of interconnection “are thermal generators with imported diesel. Obviously, fuel importers benefit the most”.

For Hidalgo, “there is no technical or legal justification, and even worse, economic justification for the disconnection. This increases the cost of producing a barrel of oil, this inefficiency that we end up paying for all of us”. And he assures that if there was leadership and decision “The connection to the Shushufindi substation could be ready in less than two months. And that the return on the investment in the same way could be less than six months”.

Currently, the 230 kV San Rafael-Jivino transmission line and the Jivino substation, intended to supply Vergel, ZPF, Sacha, Culebra, Yuca, Auca, Auca Sur, CPF, Shushufindi Central, Shushufindi Sur, Aguarico, Secoya and Atacapi are working, but with problems maintenance that make it susceptible to the above-mentioned electrical failures.