The Ministry of Energy announced a few minutes ago the signing of the concession agreement with the company Energyquil “for the installation, operation and maintenance of the thermal power plant.”

This power plant operates with four units of 48 megawatts (MW) each, which represents a total of 192 MW of solid energy, installed in the city of Guayaquil for the benefit of the Ecuadorian electricity sector. The first two units will provide energy in December 2023, and the remaining two in February 2024.

The contract was signed on November 10, 2023 by the Minister of Energy and Mining, Fernando Santos Alvite, and a representative of the company.

The government, through the work of public and private power institutions, is taking the necessary steps to normalize the power service that has been affected by the dry season in the country.

According to the Ministry of Energy, this contracting has nothing to do with the tender conducted by the Distributors, headed by the Quito Electric Company, which must contract 465 MW. On the other hand, this alternative would be immersed in the option of obtaining electricity from private companies, which could be more profitable, with the issuance of training. The Deputy Minister of Electricity commented on this option for this newspaper last week.

Meanwhile, the Ecuadorian Electricity Corporation (Celec) reported that currently 96% of its thermal plants are available to generate electricity during the current dry season.

The public company operates a thermal park with an effective power of 1,668 megawatts (MW), of which it owns 1,484 MW, while the remaining 184 MW (from the Aníbal Santos and Álvaro Tinajero plants) is owned by the National Electricity Corporation (CNEL). EPIC).

The total production owned by Celec EP that supplies the national interconnected system (SNI) is 1365 MW, and isolated and island systems 119 MW.(I)