Hyundai Heavy Industries said that it has donated two electric power stations to Ecuador in an effort to help the South American nation combat an electricity shortage.

The Ulsan-based Korean shipbuilding giant held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday on Ecuador’s Santa Cruz Island, part of the larger Galapagos island chain, to commemorate the event.

Hyundai Heavy Industries vice president Kim Jung-hwan, Ecuador’s Electricity Minister Esteban Albornoz, Galapagos Gov. Jorge Torres and other officials attended the ceremony.

Known as a Packaged Power Station, or PPS, each station is capable of generating up to 3.4 megawatts of electricity and supplying up to 5,000 households simultaneously with power. According to company officials, they are expected to help ease the electric power shortage on the Galapagos Islands, which were designated a World Natural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2007.

The packaged power stations will replace obsolete power generating plants and were built at the request of Ecuador’s state-operated power company, CELEC. HHI also sent technical staff to install and test the PPS stations.

This latest move by Hyundai follows a long history of goodwill between the Korean shipping conglomerate and the Ecuadorian government. To date, HHI has supplied Ecuador with 157 diesel power generators.

By Renee Park  (renee@heraldcorp.com)