Small Decentralized Hydropower Program National ... - Cd3wd.com

T6picos Financieros
Hector Viteri
Despuks de escudrikr 10s registros histhricos de1
desarrollo de las pequefias centrales hidroelktricas
en el Ecuador, Hector Viteri examina las diversas
estrategias que podrian utilizarse para financiar este
tipo de desarrollo. El cita el costo asociado con un
ejemplo de dichos proyectos. Al concluir sus puntos
de vista, el Sr. Viteri puntualiza que la financiacihn
local es una opci6n importante.
Antes de entrar a considerar algunas perspectivas
de financiacidn para un programa de construcci6n de
minicentrales en el Ecuador, es necesario echar una
mirada retrospectiva sobre el desarrollo - de la hidro-
electricidad en el Ecuador y de c6mo las ideas sobre
estos desarrollos han ido evolucionando con el
tiempo.
La hidroelectricidad durante la d&ada 1950-1960
two coma exponentes principales en su desarrollo a
dos comptiias de ingenieria y representaciones de
equip0 para centrales, una alemana y otra suiza.
El marco en el cual desarrollaron su actividad com-
ercial y de construc&n y 10s clientes que atendian,
refleja a vivamente la falta de planificacibn central
de1 desarrollo de1 sector ektrico, ya - que estos con-
stitian principalmente 10s Municipios de pequefias -
ciudades, todas ellas ansiosas de ver satisfecha su
necesidad basica de iluminacihn y de abastecimiento
de energia, principalmente para consumo
domkstico, en la instalaci6n de una pequefia planta
hidroelktrica, de concepci6n y disefio elemental, en
donde lo que se pretendia era la inmediata soluci6n
de: problema, mediante la utilizacibn de1 recurso, sin
mayores complicaciones relativas al aprovechamiento
6ptimo o mkcimo de1 mismo y la cubertura
sistem&tica de la demanda ektrica futura. Estudios
de mercado, gradiente energetica de 10s rios,
hidrologia, estudios de factibilidad, rendimiento de la
inversibn, estudios de CostolBeneficio etc, etc, sin lo
que hoy en &a ni siquiera se hablatia de decidir sobre
la construcci6n de una planta, eran colocadas en un
plano que si bien no podtiamos considerarlo coma de
rechazo, sin embargo no eran de iwestigaci6n par-
ticular, por cuanto existiendo el recurso a la vista, el
problema de ingenietia era la utilizaci6n de1 mismo
para abastecer la escasa demanda de esa dkada. La
tasa de consumo de electricidad estaba en el orden de
Financial
Hector Viteri
After reviewing the historical record of small
hydro development in Ecuador, Hector Viteri
examines the various strategies that may be
used to finance this type of development. He
cites the costs associated with a sample of pro-
jects. In concluding his remarks, Mr. Viteri points
out that local financing is an important option.
Before considering some of the possibilities
for financing a minihydropower construction pro-
gram in Ecuador, it is necessary to examine
retrospectively the development of hydroelectric
power in Ecuador and how ideas on this develop-
ment have evolved over the course of time.
Two engineering companies and powerplant
equipment distributors, one German and the
other Swiss, were the main vehicles for the
development of hydroelectric power during the
1950-l 960 decade.
274
The framework within which they carried out
their commercial and construction activities and
the clients they served reflected clearly the lack
of central planning in the development of the
power sector. The clients were largely small
municipalities, all anxious to satisfy their basic
needs for light and power supply, mainly for
domestic consumption, through the installation
of simply-designed and constructed small
hydroelectric plants. Their goal was the im-
mediate solution of the problem through the use
of the resource, without further consideration for
either optimum utilization or the systematic
satisfaction of future power demand. Market
studies, the power gradient of rivers, hydrology,
feasibility studies, investment return, cost/benefit
studies, etc., all so indispensible today when
making a decision regarding the construction of
a powerplant, were given an importance which,
although not entirely null and void, did not result
in their becoming the object of any special
research. The resource was there and the
engineering problem was its utilization to meet
the limited demands cf that decade. The rate of
electricity consumption was on the order of 20-30