Water crisis makes Government request studies on returning to summer time 

O MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy) requested new studies from the ONS (National Electric System Operator) to assess the impact of daylight saving time on electricity consumption in Brazilian homes. The information was published by Jornal Folha de S. Paulo and confirmed by Canal Solar.

The measure responds to a request from several sectors of the economy, which expressed their support for the time change, aiming to reduce the losses caused by the worst drought in the last 91 years and to reduce the chances of an energy shortage in the country. The program was terminated nationwide in 2019 at the request of President Jair Bolsonaro (no party) and, despite the appeal from economic sectors, the Government seems adamant about returning to the special time.

In a note, the MME stressed that “the contribution of summer time is limited, considering that, in recent years, there have been changes in the population's energy consumption habits, shifting the highest daily energy consumption to the daytime period”, highlighted the document. “Thus, at the moment, the MME has not identified that the application of summer time brings benefits in reducing demand”, highlighted the ministry.

Reservoirs

In September, the level of reservoirs in the Southeast/Central-West subsystem, which holds more than 70% of all water stored in the country, worsened even further and some plants began to operate close to dead volume. This Thursday (16), hydroelectric plants in the two Brazilian regions were operating at only 18,23% of their average capacity. About three months ago, in June of this year, the percentage of the subsystems was over 30%.

The seriousness of the situation led SeinfraElétrica (Electric Energy Infrastructure Inspection Secretariat) – the technical unit that makes up the TCU (Federal Audit Court – on request explanations to MME about water crisis, claiming that the measures taken are not sufficient to eliminate the risk of shortages.

Is daylight saving time a solution?

According to José Wanderley Marangon, an expert in the generation, transmission, distribution and commercialization of electric energy, the return of daylight saving time in Brazil is unlikely to solve the problems caused by the water crisis. According to him, the measure has little chance of reducing energy consumption, since the system's peak demand in the summer has already shifted in Brazil and the system's average load has been systematically higher than the heavy load.

“Summer time will no longer work at the peak time, which is between 14pm and 15pm. In other words, it won't work, because greater consumption is happening at a time when daylight saving time has no impact”, explained Marangon.