Ecuador entered its 2026 dry season with a power deficit of more than 1,300 MW and a response that raises concern: the country will add barely 50 MW of new generation this year. Faced with that gap, the system operator (CENACE) activated an emergency scheme in March that requires large consumers to generate their own power. The lesson for the entire regional industry is harsh and clear: when the grid falls short, continuity is not something you wait for, it is something you build.
Ecuador generates close to 70% of its electricity from water, and 33 plants concentrate 83% of the installed hydro capacity. With the asymmetric behavior of El Niño and a severe drought across the Amazon and the south, the Mazar reservoir keeps falling and the system started the year with a deficit near 866 MW. The most revealing measure arrived in March: the State stopped guaranteeing supply to large private consumers, who now must cover their own demand with self-generation. In practice, reliability shifted from the system to the user.
A blackout is not an inconvenience: it halts production, damages processes, and costs millions per hour. When a grid becomes uncertain (through drought, through a lack of investment, or through demand that grows faster than supply), operations that cannot stop (mining, oil, process industry, telecommunications) have one real defense: to build their own electrical continuity. It is not a luxury; it is risk management.
A specification lesson. Do not rely on the grid alone. Assess your continuity plan today: self-generation or distributed generation, automatic transfer to plant, and a medium and low voltage infrastructure that lets you reconfigure the operation without shutting it down. Resilience is engineered before the crisis, not during it.
Industrias Ectricol S.A.S. exports to the region solutions designed for exactly this challenge: the automatic transfer switch that secures grid-to-plant continuity, the mobile shelter-type substation and the prefabricated electrical rooms to reinforce capacity fast, the distributed generation center and the distribution switchboards. All manufactured and factory acceptance tested (FAT) in Funza, ready for dispatch.
Continuity is critical in Oil & Gas, Mining, and the process industry, the very same large consumers that, in Ecuador today, must self-generate. The right infrastructure turns a rationing threat into a controlled risk.
The diagnosis of Ecuador's system can be followed in outlets such as Primicias and in the reports of the national operator (CENACE). In any continuity project, the installation must comply with the local electrical code of the country where it is deployed.
Because it depends on hydroelectric generation for close to 70% of its supply and is going through a severe drought that lowers its reservoirs, with a projected deficit of more than 1,300 MW in the dry season and very little new capacity entering the system.
It means the State stopped guaranteeing supply to that segment, so large industries must cover their demand with self-generation to keep their operations running. In practice, it is a targeted form of rationing.
With a continuity plan: self-generation or distributed generation, automatic transfer between grid and plant, and a flexible medium and low voltage infrastructure (including mobile substations and electrical rooms) that keeps the operation running through the contingency.
It is a prefabricated substation, assembled and factory tested, transportable from one site to another, that lets you reinforce or restore electrical capacity quickly in contingency situations or temporary projects.
Can your operation keep running if the grid fails?
The engineering team at Industrias Ectricol S.A.S. designs continuity solutions (distributed generation, transfer, and mobile substations) for operations that cannot stop, in Colombia and across the region.
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