Power Generation
Brazil’s electricity is almost entirely generated by water power even though a considerable proportion of the nation’s hydroelectric potential remains untapped. By the mid-1990’s, Brazil’s output of hydropower was the third largest in the world. Almost 39 percent of the total energy demanded in the country, in 2001, came from renewable resources, while the world average is 14 percent, and if one only considers developed countries this figure does not exceed 6 percent.
In 2002, over 73 percent of the electrical supply in Brazil was provided by the hydropower segment, thermo-power reaching a far 12 percent, and the nuclear segment only 3.6 percent (9.6 percent was imported). Electric energy production by public agents as well as by self-producers in Brazil reached 344.6 TeraWatts/hour (TWh) in 2002, 4.9 percent over previous year. It comprised public hydroelectric generation of 278.7 TWh (+6.1%), public thermoelectric generation of 36.7 TWh (-5.2%) and the generation by self-producers, of 29.3 TWh (+7.9%).
The national power system is composed of two interconnected grids, one for the North and Northwest and the other for the South, Southeast and Central West. In 2002, the Brazilian installed generation capacity was increased by 6.2 GigaWatts (GW) and reached 82.5 GW: 76.8 GW as a public service and 5.65 GW from self-producers.
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