AMBASSADOR COLUMN
THE WINDS OF CHANGE
We have all heard the old saying of �Change is in the wind�. Well, it seems that this old adage will come true very soon, right here in Ecuador, in Loja to be precise.On the 26th of May, a group of Toronto financiers, lead by Mr. Tom Logan of Control Energy, signed a letter of Intent (LOI) with the Prefecto of Loja.Serving as witnesses of honour were: the Minister of Environment, Dr. Fabi�n Valdivieso, Canada�s Ambassador of Environment Gilbert Parent and myself.
What does the L.O.I. says? Within 60 days the Toronto group will make a detailed proposal to the province of Loja on how to finance, design, build and operate, on a 10-year concession basis, a wind park outside Loja that will produce 65 megawatts of electricity. The park will have two sites: the wind swept mountain ridges Membrillo and Villonaco overlooking the city to the East.
Why Loja? The province has done her homework. In the last five years, feasability studies have been completed by reputable international firms on the two sites and the Loja College of engineers has covered the environmental aspects.
What have they found? On the two ridges, there is a steady wind, 365 days of the year, between 7.5 and 12 meters/second and it blows regularly in one direction only. You can tell this by the trees up there, all branches lean to one side only.
This source of wind can drive modern turbines easily. Present plans call for turbines of 1.3 megawatts (MW), but the wind technology industry can do a lot better. Turbines of 3.2 MW already exist and operate in North America and in Europe a turbine of 4.5 MW is already in operation. This is due to a quantum leap in turbine engineering in design, material of the propeller and transmission gears at the top of the mast. �Wind technology is today, where the personal computer was in 1980. And see what happened to the PC since. The same will happen to turbines, only a lot faster� said our Ambassador for the Environment, Mr. Gilbet Parent, who flew with us to Loja, to give a hallmark speech to the �Inter American Conference on Wind Technology�.
Understandably, both the Prefecto and the Minister of Energy are quite excited about the project. They are about to harness a new source of clean, renewable energy, at a fraction of the costs of hydro or thermal energy. And it�s going to happen right here in Ecuador, which will give Ecuador a leadership position in Latin America. Another example of how Ecuadorian and Canadian assets, physical, human and financial, can be combined to create a new source of clean energy with no adverse effect on the environment.
Cordially
Otch von Finckenstein
Canadian Ambassador
Quito � Ecuador.