Ecuador shrimp sector announces clean energy transition as protests over diesel prices engulf nation

Editor/Mohamed Shihab

Ecuador’s National Aquaculture Chamber (CNA) and the Sustainable Shrimp Partnership (SSP) have launched a collaborative project that seeks to improve energy security in the nation’s shrimp sector and identify a scalable roadmap for its transition away from diesel energy to cleaner sources.

More than 30 participants will engage in the first phase of the project, dubbed the Energy Working Group, in collaboration with Ecuador’s Corporation for the Promotion of Exports and Investments (CORPEI). The group, which includes producers, processors, and feed companies, will focus on identifying possible bottlenecks that could hinder the transition to cleaner energy in the shrimp sector.

Those findings will then be used as a basis to develop a regulatory and operational framework to bolster energy security.

“The shrimp sector – the country’s main source of foreign exchange and its largest private employer – requires stable and reliable energy to sustain its growth and long-term viability,” CNA Executive President José Antonio Camposano said in a release. “Current demand exceeds the national electricity system’s capacity for generation, transmission, and distribution, and the state alone does not have the resources to meet this need. This is why private investment and close coordination with authorities are essential to advance energy projects.”

Camposano recently said that only about 10 percent of Ecuador’s shrimp farms are connected to the electrical grid …