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In another extreme failure of Green Clean Renewable energy, Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city is suffering rolling blackouts.
It seems that politics rule energy production in Brazil. Brazil is in the midst of a drought, hence no Hydro-power, which supplies 85% of energy Brazil uses.
Again the people suffer because of the failure of Renewable Energy. If the United States keeps going down the road of Renewables, we will be as weak as the Third World Economies.
Drought Forcing Brazil To Turn To Gas
It seems that politics rule energy production in Brazil. Brazil is in the midst of a drought, hence no Hydro-power, which supplies 85% of energy Brazil uses.
Again the people suffer because of the failure of Renewable Energy. If the United States keeps going down the road of Renewables, we will be as weak as the Third World Economies.
Drought Forcing Brazil To Turn To Gas
Drought Forcing Brazil To Turn To Gas
By Nick Cunningham
Posted on Thu, 22 January 2015 23:30 | 0
Brazil is dealing with one of its worst droughts in years, causing the city of Sao Paulo to suffer through rolling blackouts.
Blistering heat and scant rainfall have depleted reserves at Brazil’s hydroelectric plants, leaving power generation at precariously low levels. On January 19, Brazil’s national grid operator ONS cut power to several major Brazilian cities, including Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Commuters on the subway in Sao Paulo even had to disembark from a train and walk along the rails after power to parts of the subway system went out.
A failure in transmission equipment was in part to blame, but the multiyear drought is the bigger underlying cause. Water levels at the Cantareira system, a massive reservoir that provides water to more than 20 million people in and around Sao Paulo, are at just 5.8 percent of its capacity. Brazil sources about 71 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric plants, so a drought not only threatens the agricultural sector – which is a critical part of Brazil’s economy – but it also threatens to cut off energy supplies to Brazil’s most important economic centers.
Related: Corruption Scandal Threatens Brazilian Oil Developments
More blackouts are expected if the drought doesn’t subside. And that could push Brazil into a recession. Vicente Andreu, president of Brazil’s Water Regulatory Agency, said in October that the residents of Sao Paulo should prepare for a “collapse like we have never seen before” if water levels don’t recover.
To make up for the power shortfall, utilities have to burn more natural gas, which is much more expensive in Brazil. The drought, and subsequent increase in demand for natural gas, is expected to push up retail and commercial electricity bills by as much as 30 percent this year.