Portland, OR, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- July 16, 2012 - Ecuador’s smart grid program has been given support with the signing of a letter of intent between the country’s electricity market administrator CENACE (Centro Nacional de Control de Energía) and the U.S. Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP).

Speaking at the SGIP’s latest Governing Board meeting (July 9-10), where the signing took place, Gabriel Argüello, CEO of CENACE, said that Ecuador’s participation in the SGIP’s processes have the goal for the harmonic development and revision of standards in order to guide the implementation of smart grid projects, and the definition of the regulatory aspects that promote the development of smart grids. In addition the Ecuadorian industry would be guided in manufacturing and integrating products and developing news services.

Ecuador’s smart grid project, being developed under the name Proyecto RIE (Redes Inteligentes – Ecuador), forms part of the country’s National Plan for Good Living and is aimed at evolving and revitalizing the electricity sector. A roadmap study was started in 2011, which is expected to be completed shortly.

Relevant activities under way include the rollout of a wide area monitoring network with from 9 to 14 phasor measurement units (PMUs) over the central and northwest part of Ecuador, while the AMI project in Guayaquil by Eléctrica de Guayaquil has now been rolled out to approximately 44,500 customers in high consumption residential areas.

“The signing of the letter of intent with the SGIP is a key point in the road map of Ecuador’s smart grid project,” said Argüello.

The SGIP’s hope with these letters is to promote cooperation on smart grid efforts. This first one with a Latin American country points toward the ambitious smart grid developments being planned in the region. A letter of intent is also being developed with Colombia’s standards organization ICONTEC, which is expected to be signed towards the end of the year.