Brazil shut down two of its largest hydroelectric power plants last week due to a severe drought.
On Wednesday (August 7), the Electric Sector Monitoring Committee (CMSE) advised the Brazilian government to minimize the use of hydropower and focus on thermal sources and on importing electricity from Argentina and Uruguay, citing low water levels in the Madeira River.
According to Brazil’s National Water Agency, current conditions will continue until November 30.
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Brazil is the world’s second largest producer of hydropower. Energy technologyAccording to GlobalData’s parent company, the country’s hydropower production was expected to reach 41 GW in 2023.
The country was expected to produce hydropower on a large scale this year, with large amounts of water stored in the dams. However, the drought in the Madeira River, which has been a problem since mid-2023, remains an obstacle.
The Global Hydro Crisis
Brazil is not the only country facing this crisis. Drought has caused a significant decline in hydropower production worldwide.
China is the world leader in hydropower production. However, droughts have contributed to the decline in the country’s hydropower production since 2021. Despite hydropower capacity increasing by 7.8% between 2021 and 2023, hydropower production did not see the same increase, with 1,184 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2021, 1,202TWh in 2022 and 1,141TWh in 2023, the WEF said.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) confirmed that China’s hydropower production fell by 4.9% in 2023. According to the agency, the country’s production would have been 125 TWh higher if the availability of hydropower plants had been the same as in 2022.
The US, another hydropower powerhouse, saw a 6% drop in hydropower production in 2023 due to significant water loss in the Northwest as global temperatures soared, shutting down production at hydropower plants.
The IEA highlighted that the global shortage of hydropower plants due to drought last year increased global emissions by about 170 tonnes as countries had to rely on conventional energy sources to meet their power demand.
A possible solution: network development
To counter the impact of drought on hydropower, the WEF proposed removing regulatory barriers and providing significant financial support for the development of an interconnected network.
Brazil has benefited from this solution.
Other countries have turned to fossil fuels when droughts affected their hydroelectric power plants. Brazil, on the other hand, has been able to easily switch to other renewable sources or access rain from other parts of the country thanks to its fully interconnected grid.
While droughts have hampered hydropower generation in Brazil and the rest of the world and are expected to continue to hamper it in the future, further development of electricity infrastructure is likely to help minimize their impact.
“Brazil cuts hydropower use as droughts continue to impact global hydropower production” was originally created and published by Power Technology, a brand of GlobalData.
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