Brazil’s power regulator clears studies to install three mega-plants in the Amazon

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – This week, the regulator authorized the request of the state-owned companies to conduct technical and economic feasibility studies of the Jamanxim, Cachoeira do Caí and Cachoeira dos Patos dams, hydroelectric plants that would generate over 2,200 megawatts, enough to supply more than 3 million families.

The studies may be conducted until December 31, 2023. ANEEL (Brazil’s electric power regulator) has been receiving requests to study the construction of these plants for over 10 years, but these were never allowed.

Eletrobras and Eletronorte are part of the “Tapajós Consortium,” created to enable these hydroelectric plants, which for over a decade have not gotten off the drawing board due to potential impacts on conservation areas and indigenous lands.

The result of frustrated attempts in recent years ultimately undermined the consortium itself. What today boils down to a state partnership brought, until mid-2017, names of French companies such as Electricité de France and GDF Suez Energy Latin America (now Engie), as well as Brazilian companies such as Neoenergia, Copel and Cemig. This formation is still listed in ANEEL’s document of approval.

All companies joined with the purpose of erecting Brazil’s largest hydroelectric complex in the heart of the Amazon, which included two other plants, São Luiz do Tapajós and Jatobá, the largest.

IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), in 2016, shelved the licensing process for São Luiz, due to its direct impact on indigenous lands, which is banned by law.

None of these plants were enabled, and the consortium lost the interest of private members, who tired of spending money on frustrated projects. It was no less than R$130 (US$24) million injected into piles of studies.

Since 2013, no medium or large hydroelectric project has been tendered by the federal government due to the environmental complexity. The government has the inventory of each river, with the generation capacity of each plant, but basically all proposals include the creation of reservoirs that would flood large protected areas.

WHAT STATE-OWNED COMPANIES SAY

Asked, Eletrobras said in a statement that, “from a technical standpoint, the Tapajós river basin has a relevant hydroelectric potential, with a high natural capacity to regulate the river flows throughout the year” and that the studies of the new plants “still require governmental actions.”

Eletronorte said that “all the projects are technically feasible and would provide great gains for the Brazilian population, because they are clean, renewable energy projects, and potentially less expensive than other generation sources.”