The Brazilian government is currently seeking to award contracts for more natural gas and coal-fired plants
In a move that reverses a trend towards wind and solar power, the Brazilian government is currently seeking to award contracts for more natural gas and coal-fired plants.
This follows the country’s worst drought for eighty years drying up reservoirs in the hydro-dams. These once produced 90 per cent of Brazil’s energy: a figure that dropped to 67 per cent after the drought of 2013. The new thermal plants would ensure a guaranteed supply and prevent the need to both implement electricity rationing and import expensive LNG. The shortage of rainfall has already led to water rationing in 19 cities in the southeast and central regions.
Meeting this urgent short term need with more oil and gas plants has created tensions with environmentalists, not least because Brazil is joining talks at the UN aimed at reaching agreement over limiting fossil-fuel emissions.
Even so, the Brazilian gas market has tremendous potential for new investment and growth, and along with the drive for cheap and stable fuel sources, the need to develop more sustainable methods of gas production is more critical than ever.
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Zara Qadir
Department of Earth Science & Engineering
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Email: press.office@imperial.ac.uk
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