Ecuador prepares bidding rules for Termogás Machala plant

Ecuadoran energy authorities are working to prepare bidding rules for the 252MW Termogás Machala thermoelectric plant, the tender for which will be launched in Q3.

"The process is quite advanced, the bidding rules are being prepared and the cash bond that the government will request is being defined," a source at the country's energy ministry told BNamericas.

According to the source, the award of the contract will be done in 1Q21 and the value of the requested bond will be set between US$200mn and US$250mn.

Termogás Machala is the only thermoelectric plant in Ecuador that generates energy with natural gas produced in the Gulf of Guayaquil, from the Amistad field.

The winning company will assume the operation of the plant and will sell the electricity to the SNI grid for 20-25 years, the estimated time of the concession.

According to the ministry source, a major US company may be interested in operating the plant using gas from Peru, given that the reserves in the Amistad field have suffered a significant decline in recent years.

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