Reliability, Cleanliness, Costs: The Challenges of the Electricity Sector in Brazil

Abstract

The Brazilian system of energy has been changing in the last ten years, from an overwhelming domination of the hydroelectric generation towards an “hydrothermic” system in which gas powered centrals play a central role in order to counterbalance the vulnerability to climatic events. But is this new configuration still as clean and cheap as was the anterior fully hydroelectric system? In order to respond this question, we propose here a geographical look on the electric sector in Brazil. We first show how it was constituted and how hydropower was chosen as the main electric source. We then question the role devoted to the Amazon region in the expansion of power generation in Brazil, and its implications on the environment. Last, we try to see how the new system will be able to perform in terms of reliability, cleanness or cost.