The U.S. Trade and Development Agency has signed an agreement with Ecuador’s Agency for the Regulation and Control of Electricity to write the rules that follow recent legal reforms opening power generation to more private capital.
The technical assistance will turn those statutes into procedures investors can use. USTDA said the work should also create later openings for U.S. generation equipment, grid technology and cybersecurity tools. ARCONEL selected The Innovation Network, LLC, a Massachusetts energy firm, to assess Ecuador’s current rules, compare them with practice abroad and run workshops on a recommended code and an adoption roadmap.
“USTDA’s assistance will translate Ecuador’s legal reforms into clear, actionable regulations that give investors the confidence they need,” said Thomas R. Hardy, USTDA’s Deputy Director. “This support will strengthen an existing and vibrant economic relationship between the United States and Ecuador, opening new opportunities for U.S. companies while helping Ecuador build a reliable energy supply.”
Augusto Fabricio Porras Ortiz, Acting Executive Director of ARCONEL said: “This technical assistance will enable Ecuador to strengthen its regulatory framework with a long-term vision, incorporating best practices, innovation, and technological solutions to address emerging challenges in the electricity sector. USTDA’s support will serve as a catalyst for translating this specialized knowledge into regulatory instruments that facilitate new investment, the addition of new generation capacity, and greater system security and resilience. We particularly value the experience and technological capabilities of U.S. companies and the opportunity to connect these capabilities with the needs of Ecuador’s electricity sector.”
The grant pays for upfront analysis, not a new power plant. Plants, if they follow, will depend on Ecuador adopting the recommendations and on private financiers writing checks. USTDA describes itself as the U.S. government’s early money on infrastructure studies meant to pull American goods and services into partner markets.