The authorities of Brazil and Paraguay announced an agreement to reduce by 8.2% this year’s rate for the energy generated by the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, shared by the two countries, the first reduction since 2009.
“Paraguay and Brazil ratify their commitment to an open and permanent dialogue, always betting on the best use of the energy resource supplied by Itaipu“, the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Brazilian side defended a rate of 18.97 dollars (18.58 euros) per kilowatt, while the Paraguayan side intended to maintain the value at 22.60 dollars (22.12 euros)”.increase the amount available for exploration spending“, the statement said.
In the end, the two countries reached an agreement, setting the rate at $20.75 (20.32 euros) per kilowatt.
“This is the first reduction in Itaipu’s rate after 13 years, allowing the reduction of the energy consumer’s electricity bill” generated by the hydroelectric plant, the ministry said.
The reduction of Itaipu’s tariff had previously been discussed by the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his Paraguayan counterpart, Mario Abdo Benítez, in different meetings.
The two South American countries thus close one of the points pending renegotiation within the founding treaty of the Itaipu binational company, which will be 50 years old in 2023.
With 20 generating units and 14 gigawatts of installed power, Itaipu supplies about 10.8% of the energy consumed in Brazil and 88.5% of Paraguayan consumption.
At the end of 2021, Brazil went through the biggest water crisis in the last 90 years, which reduced the water levels of dams to a minimum, reduced the energy generated by hydroelectric plants and forced the government to contract expensive thermoelectric plants to avoid a blackout. . .
Hydroelectric plants are responsible for more than 70% of the energy consumed by Brazil.
The water crisis, which raised the cost of electricity, caused losses of 8.2 billion reais (1.2 billion euros) in Brazil’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021, a drop of 0.11%, according to the Confederation National Institute of Industry (CNI) of Brazil. .
According to the CNI study, it is estimated that in 2022 Brazil’s GDP losses due to the water crisis will amount to 14.2 billion reais (2.2 billion euros), which represents a drop of 0.19% of GDP.
Source: Observadora
