The authorities of the global power sector are met, yesterday and today (23), in the Cultural Center of Eletrobras Eletronorte, in Tucuruí (Pará), to discuss the sustainable development of projects for hydroelectric plants. Representatives from countries such as Brazil, France, Canada, Russia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Panama and Chile take part in the event, which is performed by the Regional Commission of Energy Integration (Cier) and by the Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership (GSEP), institution of which Eletrobras is part, composed by the largest electric power companies in the world.

The meeting opens with a series of GSEP workshops with the purpose of spreading the best practices of sustainability in large hydropower plants. Brazil was chosen, among 11 member countries of the institution, to host the first edition of the event to be considered a model for sustainable power generation. “This represents the recognition at the global level of our experience in implementation of large power plants and the importance of hydropower plants as a factor of economic and human development", said the Inspector of General Coordination of Presidency of Eletrobras, Luiz Augusto Figueira.

In the opening of the event, the President of Eletrobras Eletronorte, Josias Matos de Araújo, emphasized the social and environmental actions performed by this company in the neighborhood close to Tucuruí hydropower plant, in Tocantins river (Pará), such as the Regional Insert Plan and the Popular Plan of Sustainable Environmental of hydropower plant downstream in Tucuruí. “By means of these programs, Eletronorte will invest, in twenty years, R$ 360 million in public health project, education, environment, urban development and family agriculture”, said Araújo. Tucuruí, the largest totally Brazilian hydropower plant, with installed capacity of 8,370 MW, celebrated yesterday 27 years of his inauguration.

The representative of Cier, Carlos Mascimo, emphasized the hydropower potential in Latin America. “Hydropower plants are very important to energy mix of these countries, and it is expected that, in the future, this importance will be bigger”, said Mascimo. In Amazonia, the plants in construction and study as Belo Monte, in Xingu river (Pará), Santo Antônio e Jirau, in Madeira river (Rondônia), and Complexo Tapajós, in the basin of the Tapajós river (Pará), add up to around 42,000 megawatts of installed capacity.

“The hydroelectricity is the most sustainable energy in the world. The hydroelectric power plants have a great capacity to contribute to local development and the eradication of poverty. Besides, they help to reduce the CO2 emissions", emphasized Martine Provost, CEO of GSEP. The institution will take part in 17th United Nations Conference about Climate Changes (COP-17), in November 28 and December 9, in South Africa. GSEP is composed by leading companies in the worldwide electric sector Eletrobras (Brazil), American Electric Power (United States), Duke Energy (United States), Électricité de France (France), Enel S.p.a. (Italy), Eskom (South Africa), Hydro-Québec (Canada), RusHydro (Russia), Kansai Electric Power Company (Japan), RWE AG (Germany), State Grid Corporation of China (China), CFE (México) and Tepco (Japan).