11 August 1999
Brazil: A major hydro power
(Source: Ministério de Minas e Energia, Brasil)

Among industrialised countries, Brazil is one of the most dependent on hydro-electricity, with 96.8 per cent of power generated coming from its 600 dams. Brazil is the major hydro-producing country in Latin America, followed by Argentina with 101 dams, Venezuela with 72 and Chile with 87. Brazil and Paraguay together have the world's largest hydro power plant, Itaipu, with total capacity of 12 600 megawatts. Per capita electricity consumption in Brazil has increased four-fold since 1970, from 491 kilowatt hours to 2,242kwh today.

The hydro boom in Brazil was between 1975, when installed capacity was only 18 500 gigawatts, and 1985, when it reached 54 000 gigawatts. Then dam construction became more difficult due to the economic downturn and debt crisis, and growing criticism of dams for their social and environmental impacts.

All the same, hydro officials project 140 new hydro investments for the next decade, as part of a general increase in national power generation capacity. However, hydropower is likely to account for a smaller percentage of that larger power pie: officials estimate that by 2008, hydropower will provide 81 per cent of national energy, with thermal generation, including gas-fired plants using fuel brought by pipeline from Bolivia, accounting for an increasing share.