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Analytic Report on History Electricity and Renewable Power in Brazil
Executive Summary
Over the past decades, Brazil was one of the biggest oil importers in the world where
most of its imports were originating from the Middle East. The importation of oil product as a
major source of energy was slowly crippling the countys economy through huge financial
deficits and debts. With time the country has explored many options so as to meet the ever
increasing needs of industrialization that result from the growing economy where demands
are to be met with supply of power varied energy sources and with this, Brazil moved slowly
into designing strategies in which to produce energy through other ways with an aim of
substituting the overdependence on oil and gas energy. Brazil has been laying proper policies
for change over the years and has been successful so far and it has transformed itself from a
major oil importer to a major producer of renewable energy that meets the demands of the
whole of Brazil.
The purpose of this report is to identify the advancement of Brazil as a country as far
as the development of production of renewable sources of energy is concerned and with facts,
it seeks to analyse the major sources of renewable sources of energy. The history of
development of renewable energy in Brazil is also one of the purposes of this report where it
will look into the milestones in which Brazil has had towards its development as far as energy
production is concerned. On the other hand, the power production and its respective
industries have had some form of growth to a certain capacity that is worth analysing which

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will also be featured in this report. This report finally looks into major challenges that have
been facing Brazil in its quest to develop and manage renewable source of energy. Since
challenges are taken as huddles in the development and production and even management of
energy and power consumption in Brazil, it will be important that recommendations be put
across that will help in re-engineering of production and management of renewable, Boyle,
Godfrey, 1996, (electricity) in Brazil. This report will outline and discuss recommendations

that are crucial and worth implementing so as to ease the problem that comes with challenges
in energy production in Brazil.
In the past there decades, Brazil has been depending on non-renewable and an
expensive source of energy that almost pulled the country into and economic slump. Over the
years, there has been struggle to discover other sources of renewable energy and by the year
2000, Brazil was one of the countries producing renewable energy from diverse innovations.
The renewable sources of energy developed in Brazil Include Wind energy, hydroelectric
power, and biogas and tide energy. Even with this rich history in production of energy
through various methods, Brazil still faced some challenges that sometimes jeopardize
production and management of renewable source of energy. Some challenges are beyond
human abilities in terms of prevention and solution. Since 85% of the renewable energy is
domestically consumed, the sector and the industries has been facing variable challenges
when it comes to managing and distributing power to meet the growing needs for power in
the country. The country needs some recommendations and remedies so as to solve the
problems being experienced in the production and development of renewable energy. Despite
the fact that energy sector has been growing, it is evident that there is a lot that still need to be
done in an effort to ensure that production of energy is in line with economic strategies of the
country.

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Historical Perspectives of Electricity, Renewable energy and Power industry in

Brazil
Conclusions
1. It is a fact that Brazil has developed from depending on oil as the major source of
energy that is consumed local and instead, it has made great steps towards discovering
and developing other efficient and cheap sources of energy which are cost effective in
terms of production.
2. Brazil is now one of the largest producers of its own energy second after the United
States and this has been attributed to the growing population, business and industries
which require large sources of energy to meet the ever increasing demands for power.
3. Alternative source of energy have been developed and according to the National
energy Balance, most of the energy produced in Brazil including the alternative power
developed are consumed in domestically by the local industries and used by the local
villages for running light cottage industries and for common domestic uses.
4. Results from the National Energy Balance in Brazil has shown that Hydro-electricity
was the earliest form of energy in Brazil and it is the largest contributor of the total
amount of energy produced by all other forms of energy in the country. Wind energy
and biomass comes second after hydro-electricity in terms of total contribution.
5. Despite the fact that Brazil has shown rich history in the efforts towards
diversification of its energy, it is still facing energy crisis which sometimes ravages
the countys economy and also leads to extensive power rationing.
During the late 1960s, Brazil was still dependent on the Middle East as the biggest
importer of crude oil that was the only major source of energy but with time, through
scientific innovations and discoveries, there were great strides and steps towards searching
and developing other alternative source of energy which included wind energy, biomass and
hydro-electricity, Craddock and David, 2008.

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Hydro-electric Power
Statistics shows that hydro-electric power which is in other terms referred to as
hydroelectricity is the largest source of power in Brazil and produce over 90% of the total
electricity consumed in the whole of Brazil. After the speculation by economists that
dependence on imported energy would ditch the country into a bad economic state in the
future years, the government invested in construction of hydroelectric dams, for example,
Wenceslau Braz power dam and Itaipu hydroelectric power plant. This helped and reduced
the overdependence on energy from fuels and this saw production of up to 1800 gigawatts of
power in form of electricity.
Wind Energy
Wind energy in Brazil is historical the oldest form f energy production but which acquired
its popularity in the recent years after the government supported the projects that were aimed
at producing energy by harnessing wind power. At the end of 2009, wind power production
amounted to approximately 600MW which is enough power that can service a city effectively
and 340 residents. Wind energy has been the most important supplement for Hydroelectricity
over the years and it is considered reliable and cost friendly as far as expenses towards it is
concerned. It is a consistent source of power but most of optimum production is realized in
the months of June to December when the wind is intense. There are 36 farms that produce
electricity so far which includes Northern Brazil five states and southern Brazil three states
among others.
Biomass energy
Brazil has a long history of sugar growing that dates back to the slave periods and
with sugar cane plantation, it is therefore a readily available raw material for production of

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biomass. Biomass is a clean source of energy that is commonly used in Brazil and it is
considered to reduce environmental pollution since it utilizes organic garbage resulting from
sugar processing. According the Brazilian National Energy Statistics, More than one million
people are employed in the biomass industries which contribute 28% of Brazilian energy
matrix. With its long history of developments, biomass energy has been one of the
contributors of energy in Brazil and has helped the country in its efforts to diversify energy
source, improve economy and also reduce dependency on the Middle East for petroleum
products and crude oil for power.
The diversification of energy sources and production is due to the fact that there is an
ever increasing population that require energy services. According to Brazilian statistics, most
of the energy produced through wind and biomass and other small scale productions of
energy is consumed indoors for domestic use. Therefore history of the development of more
energy source is attributed by the increasing population. In the year 1980, most of the Brazils
rural areas were still not supplied with power but this has been reversed as there has been
extensive rural electrification and by the year 2004, almost 60% of the rural areas are now
enjoying the fruits of diversified energy that has seen most homes being lit.
Despite the fact that there has been govern supported and funded the different types of
energy source, there were much emphasis in the development and production of
Hydroelectric power production. These emphases were put in place because it was considered
that hydroelectric production could produce energy that is big enough to serve the increasing
number of industries. On the other hand, considering the geographical appearance of Brazil, it
is characterised by rugged terrain and gorges and also rapids that allows for construction of
hydroelectric dams. The climatic conditions of Brazil is also characterized by high humidity
and precipitation that gives rise to river that flows over the rugged terrain and this made it
possible for identification and construction of the hydroelectric power plants.

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In the history of development of electricity and power industry in Brazil, there has
been significant growth in the industry and by the year 2000, it is estimated that about ten
million people in all the different power production plants and the economic growth was
register at 12% per annum. According to Brazilian Energy Association, all the power
producing plants contributed $400 million per year to the government revenue and this was
attributing to the government support for the projects and the wide market for the
consumption of electricity produced.
Government support
Most of Brazils energy projects were supported by the government since and before
independence. Looking at wind energy, for example, the government invited Fernando de
Noronha Archipelago to install turbines to produce energy through the use of wind to produce
energy. Ten years after the project, the government created the program for incentives of
Alternative Electric sources so as to encourage the use of other sources of renewable energy
such as wind power, biomass and small hydroelectric power stations. The government aimed
at producing enough energy for the future growing population. The government support saw
around three-quarter of Brazils installed energy capacity being used by small industries and
domestic cottages. This was the major step that government took since independence and the
results were very profitable.
Another thing that propelled the development of diversification of energy production,
apart from the government support was the fact that the there was growth of wind energy use
all over the world and as a result the government of the day in Brazil was in the forefront in
adopting that same technology with an aim of producing surplus energy for the countrys ever
growing population. By the year 2009 since the inception of Proifa wind Energy production
has escalated from 22MW to 602MW. Through the development of wind power sources in

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Brazil, the country has been striving to meet its strategic objectives of enhancing energy
security, reducing emission of gases in to the atmosphere and creating job opportunities.
According to Energy Research Centres in Brazil, wind power is the most potential type of
power production that could even produce approximately 145,000MW of power and it has
been the contributing factor towards discovering new source of energy production In Brazil.
Challenges Facing Energy Industries in Brazil
The growth and development of energy in Brazil has not been a bed of rose over the
years of its production and one of the challenges is world economic recession that was
experienced in the late 80s. Poor economic times all over the world affect the consumption of
energy in the country since the people with holds the purchasing willingness and on the other
hand during the worlds economic recession, the energy producing companies tend to
increase the prices of energy and as a result the demand for energy products or power goes
down. This is one of the historic challenges that have ever befallen energy industries in Brazil
and although it is rare to experience world recession, it had a big impact on the growth of
energy industry since the development of other sources of energy was retarded as well.
High costs of production
It has been evident over the years that most of power producing industries has been facing
financial problems due to the fact that the expenses usually override the incomes. This comes
in as a result of much money being invested in the production, management and supply of
energy, GHANDOUR, A. (2005). According to the Brazilian government, most of the energy
producing companies that were contracted over the years have had alternating incomes in
which some of them showed significant losses due to the fact that the cost of production were
exceeding returns after taxation, Ministry of Energy and Mines, 1984. Therefore, this has
been a challenge to the growth of energy industry in Brazil.

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Industrialization
Industrialization is simply a term that explains the increasing numbers of industries in
a country and Brazil is has been experiencing growth and expansion and even introduction of
new industries since colonial period. Statistics as per the ministry of industrialization has
been showing the ever increasing numbers of legally registered industries in the recent past.
Despite the fact that industries are the largest consumers of energy, they are a source of
challenge as well because they increase the demand for supply of more energy at flat rates
which eventually lead to stagnation of energy price which later transforms into low profits
even when the demands are high.
Recommendations
The following are recommendations as far energy in Brazil is concerned:
1. Strategies should be put in place that will see to the issue of fluctuation of energy
prices as a result of the development of diverse source or energy.
2. The government should be responsible for promoting the growth of energy industry
through scraping rules that regulate companies from producing maximum amounts of
power through introducing incentives and also reducing taxation rates set for these
industries.
3. Energy crisis mitigation strategies should also be designed in readiness of speculative
crisis that may affect energy production and consumption in Brazil.
4. To boost the amount of incomes and revenues of energy producing companies, the
government should allow exportation of surplus energy so as to boost profitability and
extend markets for sales.
The government through the energy regulation commissions, should be in position to
design strategies then implement the so as to ensure that the prices of energy produced locally
remains constant. Over the years, the prices of electricity bills that are normally issued in

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terms of kilowatts have been fluctuating hence affecting profitability and revenue to the
government. On implementation of these strategies, the revenue for both the companies and
the government will remain constant. On the other hand the government should scrap strict
rules that regulate the amounts of production of energy by certain companies, for example,
over the years, Brazilian government has been regulating and limiting jurisdiction of private
investors in energy production industries and this has affected productivity and efficient
supply of sufficient power in the country, Elizondo et al, 2012.
Energy crisis in Brazil has a long history dating back to late 1970s and most of the crisis
was as result of natural factors, for instance, due to drought that is usually experienced in
some part of Brazil, the results are rapid reduction of water in the hydroelectric dams. With
the later natural factor, the amount of energy production is reduced rapidly leading to reduced
supply of power to major industries and some parts of the country. Therefore, there should be
tactical strategies that will help in ensuring that even if the natural calamities occur, the
amounts of energy remains constant, Thynne, John, 1985. For instance, the government
should incorporate other methods of energy production like solar energy in readiness for the
event that will lead to reduced hydroelectric energy production, Leite, Antonio D. 2009.
On the other hand, surplus energy produced by the energy producing companies should be
exported since most of renewable energies cannot be stored. This will ensure that the excess
energy produced during peak seasons are converted into financial resource that can be used to
expand the scope in which energy is produced. Through the recommendations highlighted
above, the challenges faced by businesses in the energy industry may be solved to some
capacity and therefore it is crucial for the stakeholders responsible for energy industry to
consider coming up with other sound solution to the issues that affect development,
production and consumption or energy in Brazil.

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Work Cited
Boyle, Godfrey. Renewable Energy: Power for a Sustainable Future. Oxford,
England: Oxford University Press in association with the Open University, 1996.
Print.

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Craddock, David. Renewable Energy Made Easy: Free Energy from Solar, Wind,
Hydropower, and Other Alternative Energy Sources. Ocala, Fla: Atlantic Pub.
Group, 2008. Print.
Elizondo, Azuela G, and Luiz A. Barroso. Design and Performance of Policy
Instruments to Promote the Development of Renewable Energy: Emerging
Experience in Selected Developing Countries. Washington: World Bank
Publications, 2012. Internet resource
Leite, Antonio D. Energy in Brazil: Towards a Renewable Energy Dominated
System. London: Earthscan, 2009. Internet resource.
Thynne, John. Oil Crisis to Debt Crisis: Energy Policies in Brazil and Argentina
1960-1980. Cambridge, Mass: Energy and Environmental Policy Center, John F.
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 1985. Print.
Survey on the State of the Art-Alternative Energy Sources Technology. Brasilia:
Ministry of Mines and Energy, General Secretariat, Secretariat for Technology,
1984. Print.
GHANDOUR, A. (2005). Sustainable Rural Energy Development in Brazil.
Washington, D.C., United States. Dept. of Energy.
http://encompass.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/checkIP.cgi?
access=gateway_standard&url=http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/860991ng7Iuc/.

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