EN 
PT_BR 
The level of the reservoirs in the Southeast/Central-West subsystem, which concentrates around 70% of all water stored in the country, continues to worsen every day. This week alone, two plants started operating with dead volume, at the limit of the minimum operating quota.
On Wednesday (15), the Ilha Solteira hydroelectric plant, the largest in São Paulo, was the first to reach zero storage capacity. In August, the reservoir level was at 36% and, less than two weeks ago, it remained at around 10%.
The same happened with the Três Irmãos plant, in the Tietê River basin, also in São Paulo. The hydroelectric plant dawned at zero this Friday (17), having started the week with just over 5% of operational volume. In August, the level was 39%.
Without rain and with an increase in electricity consumption, the percentage of storage in the hydroelectric plants that make up the two Brazilian regions reached the mark of 18.14% – a lower rate than in the same period in 2000 (20.8%), when the highest period of rationing in the history of Brazil, with the right to blackouts.
Other reservoirs
In addition to Ilha Solteira and Três Irmãos, nine other hydro plants that supply the Southeast/Central West subsystem also record worrying rates, with less than 20% of useful volume. In other words, of the 20 plants that make up the two Brazilian regions, 12 already operate with less than a fifth of their capacity.
Read too: Water crisis makes Government request studies on returning to summer time.
The percentage of the Marimbondo and Itumbiara basins, for example, is 9.08% and 10.53%, respectively. At the Emborcação, Águas Vermelhas, Nova Ponte and São Simão hydroelectric plants, the useful volume is already lower than 15%. In turn, Furnas, M. Moraes, Batalha and Serra do Facão began and will end the week with rainfall levels between 15% and 20%.
ONS
In a press release, the ONS (National Electric System Operator) claimed that the data from the Ilha de Solteira reservoir have as a reference the useful volume, defined in the granting of the A-N-A (National Water Agency), which considers the level to be 323 meters so as not to interrupt the operation of the waterway.
“The value of 0.0% recorded on the ONS website means that the volume of water has already reached this minimum quota for using the waterway, but this does not mean that the plant's reservoir is empty. If we consider the minimum project level, whose elevation is 314 meters, the reservoir has 56.72% of storage”, highlighted the statement.
The Operator also highlighted that Brazil is going through the worst water crisis in the last 91 years and that the shortage is directly affecting the levels of reservoirs, including Três Irmãos, which considers the defined operating level to be 323 meters. “However, CREG (Chamber of Exceptional Rules for Hydroenergy Management) also authorized the use up to the minimum energy operating limit, which in the case of Três Irmãos is 319.77 meters. If we consider this quota, the reservoir volume would be 36%”, concludes the note.
