Support to the Brazilian Electric Sector in Relation to the Global Climate Change

Project BRA/00/029 -- Start Year: 2000; Approved Budget: US$583,783; End Year: 2002; Implementing Agent: NEX (National Execution Related Projects); Executing Agent: CANEEL (Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica).

Project background and rationale: In the Seventies, scientific research has demonstrated that a relationship between the concentration of some gazes such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methyl (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), CFCs and ozone (O3) and the increase of the global temperature exists. In order to prevent and limit the dramatic changes on the ecosystem produced by this "greenhouse" effect, the international community has adopted in 1992 a United Nations Convention on Climate Change, which objective is the stabilization of the concentration of the greenhouse-effect-producing gazes to a level compatible with the sustainability of the ecosystem. This is particularly important for Brazil, where hydroelectric basins could be affected in their capacity to continue to provide the same amount of energy, which represents today 90% of the total produced in the country. Therefore, scientific research is needed to furnish the necessary data to the government in order to allow him to fulfill its international obligations and, at the same time, develop a long range planning of its hydroelectric system taking into account the climate changes that the country will experience in the forthcoming decades.

Project development goal: This project aims to enable the Brazilian electric sector to obtain scientific information related to its emission of greenhouse-effect-producing gases, in order to provide assistance to the definition of the Brazilian implementation policy in the field of climate changes and preserve the capacity of its hydroelectric basins to produce energy.

Project immediate objectives and expected outputs: In order to achieve this goal, four immediate objectives are pursued:

1. The definition of a methodology of data collection for the elaboration of the inventory of the gases which cause the greenhouse effect and for the continuous monitoring of these emissions;

2. The evaluation of the effects of the regional climatic phenomena on the Brazilian hydrologic cycle, focusing on some hydrologic basins, as well as on its repercussions on the demand and supply of electric energy.

3. The evaluation of the actions that mitigate the climatic changes and the conceptualization of projects aimed at the diffusion of alternative technology avoiding the consumption of combustibles.

4. The training of the technical staff of ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) and the diffusion of technical-scientific knowledge related to global climate changes, to the Brazilian electric sector and to the environment involving, inclusive, actions of environmental education.

Contact details: PANEEL (Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica) SGAN 603 módulo JCEP 70830-030 - Brasília DF Brazil