After Decree 32: roofs, backup and off-site generation for high-voltage industry

Decree 32 requires high-voltage customers to have generation for their own demand, with a deadline in mid-December 2026: the 15th according to the government, the 18th counted from the official gazette. Decree 515, in September, specified that in the periods when CENACE disconnects them they must have generation “to supply the totality of their energy and power demand” (Registro Oficial 380). ARCONEL’s rule on what counts as compliance is due by the end of May 2027, and the energy minister speaks of some 21 regulations still to come (Primicias). This site’s previous article reviewed the decree, the deadline and the tariffs; this one looks at the three paths companies are taking.

The disconnections set the scale of the problem. From October 12, high- and medium-voltage industries left the grid 72 hours a week (Vistazo). On October 22, the secretary general of the public administration, José Julio Neira, announced they would end on November 1 (Vistazo); on October 30, the Ministry of Environment and Energy notified 185 companies in the AV1 group of a disconnection “from Sunday 1 to Wednesday 4 November”, four days in a row (Teleamazonas; Extra). The sources reviewed show no later schedule. The operational lesson is that a disconnection is measured in days, not hours.

What follows is not advice. It answers, from the rules and the published cases, three questions a high-voltage plant is asking today: how much a roof yields, what keeps it running when it is disconnected, and what the rules allow when the generation is somewhere else.

The largest published case is the Novacero steel plant in Guayaquil: 7,002 panels on four sheds, 34,000 square metres of roof, 4.23 MWp, in operation since July 17, 2025. According to the company, it covers 90% of the energy the plant uses; during the 2024 crisis the plant was disconnected from the system as a large consumer (El Universo). Vistazo reports output of about 5.9 GWh a year, a 60% saving on energy costs and an investment of about USD 3 million; El Universo gives USD 2.5 million (Vistazo; El Universo). In Tungurahua, the glass maker Fairis installed 2.2 MW on 10,600 square metres, with a projected 3.17 million kWh a year, 42% of the plant’s demand (Vistazo).

Novacero’s figures give a working rule: about 8,000 square metres of roof per MWp, walkways, tilt and obstacles included (our arithmetic: 34,000 divided by 4.23). A current 580 W module measures 2.28 by 1.13 metres, about 2.6 square metres, and weighs 28 kilograms (datasheet); one MWp is about 1,720 modules and 4,500 square metres of module surface, and almost 11 kilograms per square metre in modules alone, before mounting and ballast (our arithmetic). Daniel Rosero, technical manager at SolarTeam, warned in August that many roofs were not designed to carry panels (Expreso); the structural review comes before the quote.

Yield depends on the site. The Global Solar Atlas estimates about 1,320 to 1,330 kWh a year per installed kWp for Guayaquil and Durán, about 1,410 for Santa Elena and about 1,680 for Quito (Global Solar Atlas). Novacero’s 5.9 GWh on 4.23 MWp is about 1,395 kWh per kWp, on the same scale (our arithmetic). A 2022 study estimated 61 square kilometres of usable roof in the canton of Guayaquil and 69 in Quito, from cadastral maps (Tapia et al., 2022); the roof exists, but not all of it sits on a high-voltage industry.

Scale matters. A plant with an average load of 2 MW uses about 17.5 GWh a year; one MWp in Guayaquil covers around 7.5% of that energy, and reaching the 30% the president speaks of (El Universo) would take about 4 MWp and, at Novacero’s density, about 32,000 square metres of roof (our arithmetic). Juan Carlos Navarro, president of the Guayaquil Chamber of Industries, has said that many industries have neither the space nor the logistics to generate on their premises (Expreso).

The case for the roof lies in the time band. In late October, an engineer at an equipment distributor put an installed photovoltaic MW at about USD 400,000 and the generated kWh at about USD 0.07 (Primicias); Sunforce cites a 7 MW plant for a shrimp farm at USD 3.7 million, with payback in about three years (Primicias). Panels produce in the very band the temporary tariff charges most on weekdays: USD 0.3106 per kWh from 08:00 to 18:00 for an AV1 industrial customer (Registro Oficial 380). One MWp producing 1.3 GWh a year displaces about USD 400,000 of energy a year at that tariff, but the tariff applies only to consumption from October to December 2026; at the earlier price of about 12 cents, it is about USD 160,000 (our arithmetic). The demand charge is still paid (Regulation 005/24).

The rules for the roof depend on the type of customer. For a regulated consumer, Regulation ARCONEL-005/24 limits the power of a system without injection to the maximum recorded demand and the approved connection capacity, with protections that prevent injection; if it injects, the limit is the network capacity at the connection point. Annual production may not exceed the consumer’s annual demand. Above 100 kW, the distributor runs load-flow, fault, voltage-unbalance and voltage-regulation studies, plus stability studies above 1 MW, charges USD 4 per kW once and issues a feasibility valid for three months (Regulation 005/24). CNEL publishes the procedure (CNEL EP). For non-regulated consumers, large consumers and the own consumption of self-generators, Regulation ARCONEL-010/24 covers only on-site systems, with no injection into the grid and no remote modality (Regulation 010/24). Decree 515 now lets self-supply systems of both kinds inject into the distribution network, and requires large consumers to obtain ARCONEL’s authorisation; the regulations that apply it are pending (General Regulation).

The text in force asks for generation for “the totality” of demand during disconnection periods (Registro Oficial 380), and those periods have lasted whole days. Navarro, who also presides over the Federation of Industries, noted that diesel generator sets are limited to 8 or 12 hours a day and that solar does not supply around the clock (Expreso). José Antonio Camposano, president of the National Aquaculture Chamber, summed it up on October 30: “Without ice or packaging material, and under curfew, operating becomes unviable” (Extra). The first design decision is which loads must survive a disconnection: cold storage, ice, furnaces that cannot stop abruptly.

A grid-tied roof does not do that on its own. Grid-tied inverters must detect that the grid has gone and cease energising it within two seconds; that is the anti-islanding protection the IEEE 1547 standard requires (Solectria). Regulation 005/24 points the same way: for a synchronised system that does not inject surpluses, the distributor sets the connection and operating conditions “so as to avoid the injection of electricity into the distribution network or a possible island operation of any segment of the network” (Regulation 005/24). During a disconnection, the panels produce only if something forms a grid inside the plant.

There are two ways to do that. The first is generator sets: they hold voltage and frequency, the inverters follow them, and the panels cut the fuel burned by day. The second is batteries with grid-forming inverters: according to the U.S. Department of Energy, “grid-forming” inverters can start up a grid that has gone down, known as black start, while traditional “grid-following” inverters need an outside signal from the grid to operate (DOE). Regulation 005/24 allows storage equipment in a self-supply system (Regulation 005/24). On prices, BloombergNEF put battery packs for stationary storage at USD 70 per kWh in 2025, 45% lower than in 2024; that is the pack price, not the installed system (BloombergNEF). Suppliers in Guayaquil distinguish off-grid systems with batteries from hybrids, which also inject surpluses into the grid (Primicias).

Generator sets remain the backbone of backup, and have their own regime. Whoever owns or rents a set of at least 100 kW, with a sealed meter and unsubsidised industrial fuel, can qualify it with the distributor and receive compensation for each kWh generated while CENACE keeps a deficit period active (Registro Oficial 342); in November, 41.14 cents on diesel and 24.75 on fuel oil 6 (ARCONEL). Lead times are the limit: in September, a supplier estimated four months to import a 1 MW unit and at least six to commission it, and a contractor about eight months for a hybrid system of thermal generation, panels and batteries (Primicias).

Storage has had a framework of its own since September. Decree 515 defines storage systems as a “set of technologies and devices designed to capture, store and deliver electricity in a controlled way to the power system”, creates a market for storage services under an enabling title, lets those companies sign bilateral contracts with large consumers or self-generators, and lists black start among the ancillary services; the tariff per MWh is not defined (Primicias). For solar and wind plants of 10 to 100 MW, Resolution ARCONEL-005-25 already requires storage of 10% of nominal power with four hours of autonomy (Primicias).

The model is already running in Santa Elena. Río de Oro, 65 MWp, has delivered energy to private companies since September 15 under ten-year contracts, in a scheme the government calls “remote self-supply”: the electricity generated in Santa Elena enters CNEL EP’s network and is deducted from the customers’ consumption at their own plants, kilometres away (Teleamazonas; Primicias). Next to it, a 17 MWp plant by EnergyControl, a USD 6 million investment amortised over 15 years, will let an ice factory in Durán cover 96% of its consumption “through an account-netting mechanism between CNEL Guayas-Los Ríos and CNEL Santa Elena”, according to the site engineer (Primicias).

The rule that allows it is the same Regulation 005/24. Its remote modalities, 2a, 2b and 2c, admit a system located away from the consumption, connected to the distribution network and tied to one or several accounts of the same consumer; 2c covers several accounts of one legal entity on scattered properties. The condition is to be “within the same Service Area of the Distributor”, and a footnote adds: “or between business units of CNEL EP” (Regulation 005/24). That is Durán’s account netting. It does not work across different distributors: María Paz Jervis, director of the Chamber of Industries and Production, asked for an interconnection between power companies so that net metering works between them, because today there is “an administrative problem that has not been solved” (Expreso). A plant in Santa Elena cannot be netted against a factory in Quito.

The network sets the size. A remote system always injects, so its power is limited to “the network capacity at the connection point approved by the Distributor”, and its annual production may not exceed the annual demand of the accounts it supplies. Above 1 MW, the distributor adds stability studies; the one-off fee is USD 4 per kW (Regulation 005/24). Rosero warned that “many of the networks lack the parameters or technical capacity to carry the generation a private party can produce”, that approving a line and a substation can take six to 18 months, and that “it often depends on the distributor” (Expreso). On the bill, injected and consumed energy are compared by time band; a surplus accumulates as a credit, a shortfall is billed at the highest tariff charge, and every 24 months the accumulated credit returns to zero “without the Distributor having to grant financial compensation”. The demand and commercialisation charges are still paid (Regulation 005/24).

Who owns it is also written, with a tension. The law of March 2026 allows self-supply systems to be owned by the consumer “or by third parties”, provided their energy goes exclusively to that consumer, and allows third parties to be contracted for financing, management, operation and maintenance (Registro Oficial 234). Regulation 005/24 adds that the instrument between the consumer and the third party “may not establish the activity of commercialisation (purchase or sale) of the energy produced” to the regulated consumer, and that the distributor must verify this (Regulation 005/24). Decree 515 provides that third-party systems whose energy goes exclusively to regulated or non-regulated consumers “shall be considered providers of the public electricity service”, and that those consumers will pay charges for the use or availability of the network under the regulation ARCONEL issues (General Regulation); 005/24 itself set those distribution tolls from February 28, 2029 (Regulation 005/24). How the ten-year contracts in Santa Elena are structured is not in the press reports.

For a large consumer connected to the transmission grid, the path is different. Regulation 010/24 “does not contemplate the remote modality for Non-Regulated Consumers” (Regulation 010/24). The available figure is the type B self-generator of Regulation 005/21: a legal entity whose generation and own consumption “are in separate places, and for their self-supply require the use of transmission and/or distribution networks”, with individual metering at each point and paying transmission and distribution tolls for its own consumption (Regulation 005/21). It requires an enabling title from the ministry. For groups of companies, the Autonomous Energy Districts may be supplied with local or remote generation, pay tolls as non-regulated consumers and receive a title of up to 40 years (General Regulation; Registro Oficial 234); a former minister estimated that forming one would take 18 to 24 months (Primicias).

And the central gap remains. Remote energy arrives over the network. When CENACE orders a plant off the grid, with zero megawatts of supply, nothing arrives from Santa Elena. Decree 515 requires generation for the totality of demand precisely in those periods, and no rule yet says whether remote self-supply counts for Decree 32; Navarro asked for clarity on whether a non-regulated consumer with a private contract already complies (Expreso). What the remote plant does do is reduce the energy bought over the rest of the year and raise the annual share of self-supply, the measure the president has used when speaking of 30% (El Universo).

What follows is not advice; it sums up what follows from the texts and the cases cited.

• The roof covers the daylight hours and the most expensive weekday band; it does not cover a disconnection.
• A disconnection is measured in days. Backup is sized by the load that must survive and by days of operation, with the fuel and maintenance that demands.
• Panels help in island mode only if something forms the grid inside the plant: generator sets, or batteries with grid-forming inverters.
• The remote plant reduces the energy bought over the rest of the year, within the same distributor, and will pay the network charges ARCONEL sets.
• Procedures run through the distributor for regulated customers and through ARCONEL for large consumers, and are counted in months; distribution networks have limited capacity at the connection point.
• Until ARCONEL issues its rule, none of the three paths has it in writing how it proves compliance with Decree 32.

• ARCONEL’s regulation defining what counts as compliance, and in particular whether remote self-supply and generation contracted from third parties satisfy the obligation (Primicias).
• The charges for network use or availability on self-supply systems that Decree 515 orders, against the 2029 date Regulation 005/24 set (General Regulation; Regulation 005/24).
• Whether net metering between different distributors is enabled, as the Chamber of Industries and Production asked (Expreso).
• The high-voltage tariff for 2027: the whole payback calculation for a roof changes depending on whether the temporary tariff of about 30 cents or the earlier one of about 12 applies (Registro Oficial 380).
• The tariff for the storage service and the bilateral contracts of storage companies with large consumers (Primicias).
• The disconnections after November 4, and what happens on December 15 with the barges (Primicias).

The rules were read in their texts: the codified Regulation ARCONEL-005/24, Regulation ARCONEL-010/24, Regulation ARCONEL-005/21, the law published in the Fifth Supplement of Registro Oficial 234, the General Regulation of the LOSPEE as consolidated to Decree 515 in the copy CENACE publishes, Decree 515 and the temporary tariff in the Ninth Supplement of Registro Oficial 380, Regulation 002/26 in the Fourth Supplement 342, and the compensation rates in the resolution of October 12, 2026. Solar yields are the Global Solar Atlas long-term estimates for each city’s coordinates, and roof area is from the 2022 study by Tapia et al. The module’s dimensions and weight are from a commercial datasheet of a current model. The figures for the Novacero, Fairis and Santa Elena cases are the companies’, as quoted in the press; equipment costs are from suppliers and consultants. Calculations marked as ours are arithmetic on those figures, not measurements. The high-voltage definitions follow Primicias: AV1 up to 138 kV, AV2 above it (Primicias).

This article describes public rules, cases and figures; it is not legal, technical or financial advice. The design of a backup system, the structural review of a roof and the connection to the network belong to licensed engineers and to the distributor. Data to November 8, 2026; the rules, tariffs and prices cited may change.