In a presentation to Copel’s Board of Directors (CAD) on Wednesday (Sept. 3), the president of the Energy Research Office (EPE), Thiago Guilherme Ferreira Prado, highlighted capacity and flexibility in power generation and distribution as key challenges in meeting the increasing demands of Brazil’s energy sector.

“The challenge is flexibility. It’s having dispatchable plants — plants that, when called upon, can generate quickly, because the wind may suddenly stop blowing, or a cloud may cover solar radiation. These are rapid climatological changes that affect variable renewable generation, and you need resources to counterbalance them, with agility. Hydropower technology addresses this issue very well,” stated Prado, whose agency is linked to the Ministry of Mines and Energy.

According to Prado, energy capacity reserves play an important role in this context. The last Capacity Reserve Auction organized by the Ministry of Mines and Energy was held in 2021, with another scheduled for 2026. “The Capacity Reserve Auction is a very important competitive process. Within EPE’s Ten-Year Plan, we identify the growing need each year to add capacity to the grid in order to meet system requirements,” he noted.

For Copel’s Board Chairman, Marcel Martins Malczewski, the EPE president’s lecture “provided an excellent overview of the current reality and what lies ahead for the electricity sector.”

Prado also noted that in one of the two public consultations currently underway by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, a specific product for hydropower has already been identified. This would provide opportunities for plants with reservoirs but no installed turbines, which are willing to offer capacity in the auction. Such is the case of Copel, which has expansion potential at its Foz do Areia and Segredo plants.

“These plants were built to supply the system with energy. Since the challenge now is different — ensuring capacity and power — it makes sense to install new turbines at existing plants. This is a timely product, well aligned with the system’s needs. We have more than 7 gigawatts of plants in this condition, and we expect significant competition for this product in the auction.”

As the research and studies provider for the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), supporting the planning of the energy sector, EPE is responsible for the Ten-Year Energy Expansion Plan (PDE), which presents an integrated view and outlook for the expansion of the energy sector for the period 2026 to 2035.

Potential for new hydropower plants

According to Prado, EPE studies indicate that there are 12 GW of hydropower potential that do not impact Indigenous lands, conservation units, or traditional communities and could be developed.

“These are projects that can be built. We also identified opportunities for reversible hydropower plants, which can be built in closed-cycle systems, where reservoir locations are chosen to allow locational flexibility. We could build such closed-cycle plants in the Northeast, for example, where there are curtailments or energy restrictions. In these cases, you can absorb surplus generation by pumping water from one reservoir to another, and later release it to generate power during ramp-up or peak demand,” he explained.

Prado gave a positive assessment of his meeting with Copel’s Board of Directors: “The CAD wanted to hear EPE’s future outlook for the electricity and energy sector. We presented a view of the next 10 years and some points from the National Energy Plan (PNE 2055), which is under development with a long-term outlook for Brazil over the next 30 years, including commitments to carbon neutrality and the introduction of new technologies.”

At the end of the meeting, Copel CEO Daniel Slaviero thanked the speaker for highlighting hydropower’s importance in meeting energy demand. “I thank Thiago Guilherme Ferreira Prado for the excellent presentation. I know he is very attentive to the value of hydropower generation, our main national asset in the LRCAP.”