Nowadays, you can find different ways to produce electric power in the world and satisfy domestic consumers demand (because of the population growth), as well as the high scale use of industries. As long as we keep equilibrium with nature, hydroelectric production will always be the most convenient, economic, clean, and durable power, although the initial investment demands a big capital, and in many cases it demands companies to join efforts to have financing. There are very important examples of mega power stations that are working in different parts, such as Itaipu Power Station located in the frontier of Portugal, Paraguay, and Argentina; its installed power is about 10,000 megawatts (MW). The Central "Three Throats" was finished short time ago in China; it has 17,000 MW installed. Like these examples, we can find similar power stations everywhere in the world: Canada, USA, Venezuela, Colombia, Europe, Asia, etc. Hydroelectric power stations are useful in many countries and we can say that they satisfy over 40% of the electric power demand of the world.

At Ecuador, our biggest and most important hydroelectric power station is Paute, which has 1,200 MW of installed power. However, the necessity of increasing the electric offer has obligated to use other kinds of power stations; this need has been that big that at the same time industrial revolution (at the end of the XVIII century) started, engines were used to move electric generators using fossil combustible. This is the way thermal power stations appeared, using heavy petroleum residues first, and then lighter ones such as bunker, diesel, and even naphtha (base of gasoline). These power stations can work with internal combustion using traditional engines (they burn light combustibles therefore their capacity could be small or medium); or with external combustion, using external processes to produce water vapor and move turbines  joined to electric generators; the capacity of these stations could be medium or big.

Examples of internal combustion power stations in Ecuador:  
  Guangopolo (30 MW, Quito)
  El Descanso (30 MW, Cuenca)

Examples of external combustion power stations in Ecuador:
  Esmeraldas (125 MW, Esmeraldas)
  Gonzalo Cevallos (130 MW, Guayaquil)
  Trinitaria (130 MW)

Besides these kinds of power stations, there is another type of power conversion, from chemical to mechanic and then to electric power; high speed turbines that burn light combustibles are used to do this. Although its efficiency is around 60%, the advantage is its immediate availability to produce electric energy at full capacity and for long periods of time if is necessary.

Examples of this type of turbines in the country (called "gas turbine" because they are moved by the gas combustion produces):
  Santa Rosa (50 MW, Quito)
  Enrique García (90 MW, Guayaquil)
  Electroquil (175 MW, Guayaquil)

Other power stations that produce an important generation in the world, due to the imperious need of incrementing electric energy sources, are the nuclear ones. With this kind of conversion from atomic or caloric energy to electric, they can produce hundreds or even thousands of megawatts. World potencies such as USA, Russia, Germany, Japan, and now Korea, as well as countries with high density population like Brazil, Mexico, and even Argentina (to mention some Latin American examples), cannot do without this source of energy. This kind of energy has to be produced under all the security norms; otherwise it can be extremely dangerous, like it was in Chernobyl at the former Soviet Union. 

To talk only about power stations and go deep into every type of them requires an important time and space. To talk about the other integrants of the electric process, such as transmission, distribution, commercialization, and application also requires additional efforts. 

To complement this brief description about the way mechanic, chemical, nuclear, and caloric energy are transformed into electric one, I would like to quickly name other sources called "non conventional" or "production alternatives" such as the power of wind, solar (panels), bio-mass, etc. These types of energy, especially the wind and solar ones, are already being considered in this country; it is important to mention that 2% of the total energy of the world is produced using these alternatives.

It is also necessary to point the importance of diversifying the energetic matrix. Currently, the electric production in the country is 50% hydro and 50% thermal, in average. It would be convenient to improve the percentage of hydro one, but it is equally convenient to increment the thermal one as well.  Nevertheless, with the use of more economic and less contaminating combustibles, let's remember that it is always necessary to have electric production based on thermal processes, especially because of the current climate variation that brings droughts, floods, weather changes, etc. and it impedes to make good predictions about the hydroelectric energy production.
  
With this opportunity, and after a general explanation, I will complement some ideas about electric energy production through gas turbines and, above all, the use of alternative combustibles such as the case of the natural gas.

Turbine gas to produce electric energy

This type of machines has certain advantages, like their fast, easy and standardized installation; besides, investments relatively low compared to the ones for other type of facilities such as the hydroelectric.  The cost per installed megawatt is not more than 600 thousand dollars, while the cost for a hydro one could be the double. Another advantage is that its total installation period is fast, since is not more than 15 days in extreme cases; additionally, it is very adaptable to the use of several light combustibles such as diesel, naphtha, and natural gas. One of its disadvantages, when using it in simple cycle, is its relatively low efficiency (around 60%), but this can be improved by using gases from the combustion to produce vapor and move an additional turbine, which allows to increment its efficiency up to 90%. This process is called "combined cycle". A clear example of the versatility of this process is its use, which can be illustrated when United States had low provision of electric energy, especially in Texas State during 1999 and 2000; they installed this kind of machines and they could solve the emergency. The same happened in our country in 1995 when a low provision of electric power was produced by a drought in Paute power station, as well as in the oriental zone; this situation reduced electric production in 40% at the hydroelectric power stations located there. Time has passed and improvements in technology, materials, efficiency, and above all the use of economic combustibles such as natural gas have increased the use of gas turbines to produce electric energy in the whole planet. At United States, 17% out of the total electric energy is produced by gas turbines that burn natural gas as combustible, using 60 trillionths of cubic feet per day.

Natural gas

Natural gas is defined as a mixture of hydrocarbons, which at initial conditions at the reservoir you can find it in gassy state or dissolved with petroleum; this mixture is mainly constituted by methane. This denomination includes associated and no associated natural gas, therefore it will be "associated natural gas"; natural gas produced in underground jointly to petroleum and "no associated natural gas", the one that you can find at underground without any amount of petroleum.
 
Under these conditions it is necessary that the natural gas pass through a treatment plant after its extraction, where it has to be separated from water and certain dissolved solids. Finally, to be transported through a gas duct to its point of distribution, gas will have the following quality characteristics: 

a) It won't have salts, impurities, rubbers, rubbers forming compounds and other liquids or solids that could be separated from the gas.
b) It won't contain water in liquid state.
c) The natural gas will be a hydrocarbon which point of dew won't exceed -4 Celsius degrees under a 5,500 kilopascals pressure.
d) It won't contain more that 1 milligram of water per standard cubic foot.
e) It won't contain more than 250 PPM of sulfide of hydrogen (H2S).
f) It won't contain more than 0.5% of mol of Oxygen.
g) It won't contain more than 1.5% of mol of Nitrogen.
h) It won't contain petroleum or hydrocarbons C94.
i) It won't contain more than 1.5% of CO2  mol.
j) It won't contain solid particles with a size superior to 5 microns and won't exceed 1.5 pounds per MMCF (million of cubic feet).
k) Supply Pressure and Temperature:
Pressure: 400 PSIG (pounds / square inch)
Temperature: ambient temperature approximately.

Its chemical characteristics show that natural gas is really a clean combustible, which is less contaminating than any other petroleum derivate.

Its characteristics as combustible are totally compatible with conventional thermal machines' designs, therefore for every cubic feet of natural gas you obtain a caloric energy of 1,088 BTU, then the measurement units for gas consumption are given in cubic feet or meters. To have an idea, a gas turbine with a potency of 100 MW and an efficiency of 10,500 BTU / KWH, will consume approximately 23 millions of cubic feet per day (24 hours) to work, while the same machine, with an efficiency of 14 KWH / gallon of diesel, would consume about 170,000 gallons per day (24 hours).

Natural gas consumption to produce electric energy, as well as to use it in industrial processes has increased notably during the last years. Many gas ducts have been built in South America and this will allow making combustible sells more global.
 
Some examples of natural gas exports:

  From Argentina to Chile, approximately 30 millions cubic meters per day.
  From Bolivia to Brazil, 60 millions cubic meters per day.
  From Bolivia to Argentina, 10 millions cubic meters per day.

Short time ago, presidents of Venezuela, Brazil, and Argentina got together to commit their efforts to build a great gas duct that will transport natural gas from Venezuela to the other two countries at the South Cone. Peru is changing its energetic matrix from the exploitation of the Camisea fields, in the eastern part of that country.

Unfortunately, Ecuador is behind regarding to exploration, exploitation, and commercialization of natural gas. Regarding commercial exploitation, Ecuador only has the Amistad field in the Gulf of Guayaquil, which delivers this combustible to Machala Power station with a potency of 130 MW.

There is a certain possibility of taking advantage of the natural gas that exists at the north western part of Peru and, through a bi-national project Ecuador-Peru, export-import natural gas to use it in electric energy production as well as in industries. With the natural gas that would arrive to Ecuador it would be possible to assure a stable, clean, and low cost energy generation, which, beyond of diversifying the energetic matrix, it would lower the cost of KWH that currently is one of the most expensive of South America. 

GRAPHIC  2

Nobody knows what is going to happen with international petroleum prices in the next two or three years due more to political and geo-political aspects than intrinsic aspects of the market. This situation, with no doubt, keeps everybody under uncertainty, mainly to people who define regional and national energetic policies, as well as the ones who invest venture capital looking for black gold or other energetic alternatives. On one hand, we have the increment of the global demand, which is definitely tied to population growth and economic growth, particularly in developing countries. China and India, with a joint population of approximately 2,000 millions, use two to three petroleum barrels (per year, per habitant) and very hastily point to have occidental consumption (13 barrels in Europe and 22 in USA). Latin America has a consumption average of four to five petroleum barrels per habitant every year. On the other hand, we have the limitless search for alternatives to petroleum and its derivates, such as natural gas, bio-combustibles, wind source, solar energy, geo-thermia, nuclear energy, and others, which results we sill start seeing in two or three years more. Additionally, we have the non traditional petroleum exploitation (heavy and bitumen) and billions of dollars that are being invested in traditional places (marginal fields)  and non traditional ones, which results we also will see in two or three years more.

This is the energetic reality in the world and in our country. To keep looking for better alternatives to produce electricity is in our hands. It is necessary to continue with hydroelectric projects, the ones that are already working such as Mazar (230 MW) and San Francisco (140 MW) as much as the ones that can be built. We cannot disregard the possibility of building thermal projects to use clean combustibles complementing the ones mentioned before, and guaranteeing efficiency, efficacy, adequate cost and availability in the Ecuadorian electric sector.

* Former Executive President of Transelectric S.A. Currently, Representative of BPZ Energy Inc. - Ecuador. * Publisher by Mipymes Magazine July - August 2006. Inter-American Entrepreneurial Federation (FIE).