Brasília – The executive secretary of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Luiz Eduardo Barata, said this Monday (15th) that imports of electricity from neighboring countries could be expanded to avoid power shortages in Brazil. “We will start to work as of now so we won’t be taken by surprise in the summer, like it happened this year”. Barata pointed out that the reservoirs’ levels in the hydroelectric plants dropped significantly due to last year’s drought.
Among the countries that could supply power to Brazil in the case of a crisis, the secretary listed Argentina and Uruguay. “We have a strong interconnection now [with Uruguay] in Rio Grande do Sul state, to be concluded in July. Uruguay expanded its production [of energy] a lot and has an interest in supplying the surplus”, he added.
In February, the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (Aneel) changed the rules for international contracts for buying and selling electricity. Until then, the import and export agents had the right to sign only one contract per month. With the decision, they could sign a contract per week. The changes, in effect until this month, were made to allow emergency purchases of electricity.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani