Brazil has the largest electricity sector in Latin America. In 2024, Brazil added a substantial 10.9 GW of new power generation capacity, with a total installed capacity of 209 GW, of which nearly 85% was renewable.
The installed capacity grew from 11,000 MW in 1970 with an average yearly growth of 5.8% per year. Brazil has the largest capacity for water storage in the world,OECD being dependent on hydroelectricity generation capacity, which meets over 60% of its electricity demand. The national grid runs at 60 Hz and is powered 83% from renewable sources. This dependence on hydropower makes Brazil vulnerable to power supply shortages in drought years, as was demonstrated by the 2001–2002 energy crisis.World Bank 2007
In 2023, the output of Brazil's electricity system, serving over 88 million consumers, exceeded that of all other South American nations combined. Anticipated investments surpassing $100 billion by 2029 aim to expand utility-scale and distributed generation, alongside transmission and distribution projects.
The National Interconnected System (SIN) comprises the electricity companies in the South, South-East, Center-West, North-East and part of the North region. Only 3.4% of the country's electricity production is located outside the SIN, in small isolated systems located mainly in the Amazonian region.National System Operator (ONS)
Electricity supply and demand
Installed capacity
At the end of 2021 Brazil was the 2nd country in the world in terms of installed hydroelectric power (109.4 GW) and biomass (15.8 GW), the 7th country in the world in terms of installed wind power (21.1 GW) and the 14th country in the world in terms of installed solar power (13.0 GW) - on track to also become one of the top 10 in the world in solar energy. At the end of 2021, Brazil was the 4th largest producer of wind energy in the world (72 TWh), behind only China, USA and Germany, and the 11th largest producer of solar energy in the world (16.8 TWh).Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser, Solar Power Generation
The main characteristic of the Brazilian energy matrix is that it is much more renewable than that of the world. While in 2019 the world matrix was only 14% made up of renewable energy, Brazil's was at 45%. Petroleum and oil products made up 34.3% of the matrix; sugar cane derivatives, 18%; hydraulic energy, 12.4%; natural gas, 12.2%; firewood and charcoal, 8.8%; varied renewable energies, 7%; mineral coal, 5.3%; nuclear, 1.4%, and other non-renewable energies, 0.6%.Matriz Energética e Elétrica
In the electric energy matrix, the difference between Brazil and the world is even greater: while the world only had 25% of renewable electric energy in 2019, Brazil had 83%. The Brazilian electric matrix was composed of: hydraulic energy, 64.9%; biomass, 8.4%; wind energy, 8.6%; solar energy, 1%; natural gas, 9.3%; oil products, 2%; nuclear, 2.5%; coal and derivatives, 3.3%.
Generation capacity in Brazil is still dominated by hydroelectric plants, which accounted for 77% of total installed capacity,Ministry of Energy and Mines 2016 with 24 plants above 1,000 MW. In the old days, about 88 percent of the electricity fed into the national grid is estimated to came from hydroelectric generation, with over 25% coming from a single hydropower plant, the massive 14 GW Itaipu dam facility, located between Brazil and Paraguay on the Paraná River. Natural gas generation is second in importance, representing about 10% of total capacity, close to the 12% goal for 2010 established in 1993 by the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
This reliance on abundant hydroelectric resources allegedly reduces the overall generation costs. However, this large dependence on hydropower made the country especially vulnerable to supply shortages in low-rainfall years (see The 2001–2002 crisis below).
By the end of 2016, the breakdown of generation by source was:
Source Number of plants Installed capacity (MW) % Total Hydroelectricity 1259 96,925 64.5% Gas 156 12,965 8.6% Oil 2200 8,877 5.9% Biomass 504 14,001 9.3% Nuclear 2 1,990 1.3% Coal 13 3,389 2.3% Wind 413 10,124 0.2% Total installed capacity 4,707 150,338 94.3% Contracted imports 5,850 5.7% Available power 156,271 100% Source: Ministry of Mines and Energy, 2016
As summarized in the table above, Brazil has two nuclear power plants, Angra 1 (657 MW) and Angra 2 (1,350 MW), both of them owned by Eletronuclear, a subsidiary of the state-owned (Mixed economy) Eletrobrás.EIA
New generation projects Brazil needs to add 6000 MW of capacity every year in order to satisfy growing demand from an increasing and more prosperous population. The Brazilian Ministry of Energy has decided to generate 50% of new supplies from hydropower, 30% from wind and biomass such as bagasse, and 20% from gas and other sources. Wind in the North-East is strongest during the dry season when hydropower plants produce less, so the two energy sources are seasonally complementary. While grid batteries are not generators in the traditional sense, they provide flexibility to the grid. , Brazil has less than 1 GWh of batteries, mostly in isolated grids.
Hydroelectric plants Brazil has an untapped hydropower potential of 180,000 MW, including about 80,000 MW in protected regions for which there are no development plans. The government expects to develop the rest by 2030. Most new hydropower plants are run-of-river plants that are less damaging to the environment, because their reservoirs are small. However, they are more vulnerable to droughts and less efficient, because only a fraction of their capacity can be used during the dry season.
The National Agency for Electricity (ANEEL) has commissioned feasibility studies for several hydroelectric plants (small, medium and large) in the period 2006–2008. These studies correspond to a total potential capacity of 31,000 MW. In 2007, Ibama, the environmental agency, gave approval for the construction of two new dams, the Jirau Dam (3,700 MW) and the Santo Antônio Dam (3,500 MW), on the Madeira River in the state of Rondônia.The Economist The bid for the Santo Antônio plant was awarded in December 2007 to Madeira Energy, with a 39% participation from state-owned Furnas, while the bid for the Jirau plant will be launched in May 2008.Canal Energia The government is also pursuing development of the controversial 11,000 MW Belo Monte Dam in the state of Pará, on the Xingu River. IBAMA approved Belo Monte's provisional environmental license in February 2010 despite internal uproar from technicians over incomplete data.ORM Belém
Nuclear plants
Also in 2007, Electronuclear was granted permission to resume construction of Angra 3, a 1,350 MW plant, and is currently in the process of selecting a site for a fourth nuclear power plant. In February 2014, Eletrobras Eletronuclear awarded contracts to begin construction, with an estimated completion date of 2018.
Thermoelectric plants Currently, the development of gas-fired thermoelectric power is somewhat jeopardized by the lack of secure gas supplies. In fact, having a secure gas contract is a prerequisite to build a new thermoelectric plant and to participate in a new energy auction (see Energy auctions below). In order to counter the risk of unavailability of gas supplies, Brazil is in the initial stages of planning to build two LNG terminals that would likely come on-stream around 2010. However, in the meantime, several thermoelectric plants are converting their machinery to dual-fuel capacity (oil and gas).Bear Stearns 2007
Demand
Total electricity consumed in 2007 was 410 terawatt hour (TWh), while annual consumption per capita for the same year averaged 2,166 kWh.Economist Intelligence Unit, 2008 The share of consumption by sector was as follows:ABRADEE
Residential: 40% (including 6% for the rural sector) Industrial: 25% Commercial: 22% Rural: 6% Public: 13%
Electricity demand is expected to grow an average of 3.6% in the next few years, leading to total estimated consumption of 504 TWh and average per capita consumption of 2,527 kWh.Economist Intelligence Unit, 2007
In Brazil, capacity addition traditionally lagged behind demand growth. Electricity demand is expected to continue to grow at a quick pace. The income elasticity of demand for electricity is estimated by Eletrobras at above unity. Between 1980 and 2000, electricity demand increased on average by 5.4 percent per year while GDP grew by 2.4 percent on average per year. Investment is therefore needed to boost generation and transmission capacity because there is limited excess supply, despite the reduction in demand following the energy rationing program implemented in 2001 in response to the energy crisis.
Access to electricity Brazil, together with Chile, is the country with the highest access rate in Latin America. The power sector in Brazil serves more than 50 million customers, which corresponds to about 97% of the country's total households, who have access to reliable electricity.
Service quality
Interruption frequency and duration Interruption frequency and duration are very close to the averages for the LAC region. In 2005, the average number of interruptions per subscriber was 12.5, while duration of interruptions per subscriber was 16.5 hours. The weighted averages for LAC were 13 interruptions and 14 hours respectively.Benchmarking data of the electricity distribution sector in Latin America and Caribbean Region 1995-2005
Distribution losses Distribution losses in 2005 were 14%, well in line with the 13.5% average for the LAC region but about double that of an OECD country such as the Great Britain, with 7% distribution losses.OFGEM
Responsibilities in the electricity sector
Policy and regulation
The Ministry of Energy and Mines (MME) has the overall responsibility for policy setting in the electricity sector while ANEEL, which is linked to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, is the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency created in 1996 by Law 9427. ANEEL's function is to regulate and control the generation, transmission and distribution of power in compliance with the existing legislation and with the directives and policies dictated by the Central Government.Decree No 2.335, October 6, 1997 The National Council for Energy Policies (CNPE), is an advisory body to the MME in charge of approving supply criteria and "structural" projects while the Electricity Industry Monitoring Committee (CMSE) monitors supply continuity and security.Millán, 2006
ANEEL and the Ministry of Environment play almost no part in which investment projects go ahead, but they only influence how projects are executed once the decision has been taken. Both have had their bosses resign rather than supporting infrastructure projects in the Amazon.
The Operator of the National Electricity System (ONS) is a non-profit private entity created in August 1998 that is responsible for the coordination and control of the generation and transmission installations in the National Interconnected System (SIN). The ONS is under ANEEL's control and regulation.
The Power Commercialization Chamber (CCEE), successor of MAE (Mercado Atacadista de Energia Electrica), is the operator of the commercial market. The initial role of the operator was to create a single, integrated commercial electricity market, to be regulated under published rules. This role has become more active since now CCEE is in charge of the auction system. The rules and commercialization procedures that regulate CCEE's activities are approved by ANEEL.