The Federal Government created a “situation room” to monitor energy supply in Brazil, amid the water crisis caused by the lack of rain in the hydroelectric plant region – the country’s main source of generation. The information was given to the Reuters Agency by the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy).
The group that will monitor the problem is made up of the Presidency's Communications Secretariat and several ministries, including the Civil House and the Economy, Foreign Affairs and Environment ministries, in addition to the environmental agency Ibama and agencies such as ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) and ANA (National Water Agency).
The ministries of Regional Development, Infrastructure and Communications, the DNIT and ANTAQ agencies, the National Electric System Operator (ONS), the Energy Research Company (EPE) are still part of the discussions. Last Thursday, a first situation room meeting was held to discuss solutions to the problem.
According to the MME, the creation of the study group is justified “taking into account that the period from September 2020 to April 2021 was characterized by the lowest historical volume of water in the reservoirs of hydroelectric plants in the Southeast and Central-West regions, which represent 70% of the country’s storage capacity”, highlighted the ministry to Reuters.
Despite the water crisis, the Ministry denied supply risks and said that the country's energy security is being preserved, thanks to monitoring actions and measures to increase security.
Among these initiatives that will be taken by entities to contain the problem is the activation of more thermoelectric plants and the import of energy from Argentina and Uruguay. Measures are also being taken to ensure the supply of gas to thermoelectric plants, which will see an increase in employment so that water can be stored in the hydroelectric dams.
At the beginning of last week, in a conversation with supporters, outside the Palácio da Alvorada, President Jair Bolsonaro said that Brazil is going through the biggest water crisis in its history and that the worst is yet to come. “We have a serious problem ahead of us. We are experiencing the biggest hydrological crisis in history. Electricity. You're going to have a headache. A shock, right? Biggest crisis we know of,” he said.
Since mid-April, experts have been warning about the risk of shortages caused by the lack of rain. In the first quarter of 2021, the rainfall in the region that supplies the Cantareira System, in São Paulo, for example, was the lowest since the end of the last water crisis, in 2016.
Although the MME minimizes supply risks, the scenario has already generated pressure on the cost of energy for consumers, since the activation of thermoelectric plants is more expensive than the production of hydroelectric plants. At the beginning of the month, the drought led to ANEEL activate the use of the red tariff flag, with a cost of R$4,16 for every 100 kWh consumed.
