Brazil eyes partnership with Bolivia for new hydroelectric plant
Brazil is resuming its work on power generation from hydroelectric plants. To this end, the country has held auctions to contract small hydroelectric plants. The government also plans to build a second bi-national plant, this time in partnership with Bolivia, in a bid to tap into the hydroelectric potential of the Madeira river.
The statement was made by the Minister of Mines and Energy Alexandre Silveira on Friday (Aug. 22) at an event while he presented the results of the auction for the contracting of energy generated in small hydroelectric plants.
“Today we celebrate the resumption of Brazil’s hydroelectric industry. This is another historic milestone for the Lula administration. We have just held an auction for small hydroelectric plants of up to 50 megawatts – a success that’s a key step toward a fair and inclusive energy transition,” he declared.
Bi-national hydroelectric plant
Silveira talked about some of the government’s plans to revive the hydroelectric industry in Brazil. One of them is the construction of the second bi-national hydroelectric plant – similar to Itaipu, which was built in partnership with Paraguay.
“To revive large hydroelectric plants, we have expanded technical cooperation with Bolivia to tap into the potential of the Madeira river. I spoke with President Lula about the role of having this debate, and the idea is to move forward. Perhaps a new bi-national plant is on the way, to repeat the success of Itaipu,” the minister reported.
Small plants
Silveira described the results of the auction to contract energy from small hydroelectric plants as “extremely successful,” resulting in a contracted capacity of 816 megawatts, with a discount of 3.16 percent.
“The average price was BRL 392 per megawatt. Investments are estimated at BRL 8 billion in this industry,” he said, referring to the 65 projects that won the auction.
According to the energy ministry, 13 states will be covered. Of the 65 winning projects, 27 are located in Santa Catarina state, 11 in Paraná, and seven in Rio Grande do Sul, all in South Brazil.
