ID: 1793
Presenting Author: Evandro Mateus Moretto
Session: 524 - Power and Perception: Misinformation, Disinformation, and the Environmental and Social Narrative in Hydropower Development
Status: pending
In times of climate change, electricity generation systems based on large hydroelectric plants become vulnerable and risk due to the increase of positive feedback in the climate-carbon cycle
Despite the huge debate on their impacts, hydropower energy promises to deliver low carbon emissions in response to the global agreements against climate change. However, CC effects have been intensifying periods of hydrological drought, reducing the capacity of hydropower plants to generate power and strengthening the climate-carbon cycle positive feedback, due to the need to activate thermoelectric plants. The Brazilian electricity generation system is one of the least carbon-intensive in the world (88.2% of renewable sources) but is highly dependent on the hydropower source. Until 2012, Brazilian hydropower generation exhibited an increasing trend, with minimal seasonal effect. In 2013, a prolonged period of hydrological drought began due to the occurrence of El Niño which was exacerbated by CC. Since then, hydropower generation has decreased by approximately 10% on average annually, with a significant increase in the seasonal effect, despite the entry into operation of large hydropower plants, such as Jirau, Santo Antônio, and Belo Monte, in the Amazon region. As a result, thermoelectric plants were expanded in the matrix, increasing GHG emissions, representing a positive feedback loop in the global climate-carbon cycle. This scenario suggests demonstrates that electricity generation systems, based on large hydropower plants, have become more vulnerable in times of climate change with severe hydrological droughts. Electricity generation plans in the context of energy transition must include clear strategies to avoid false promises of delivering low-carbon energy.
Associate Professor at University of São Paulo with research interests in environmental impact assessment, socio-ecological systems and environmental planning and management
Coauthor 1: Amarilis Lucia Casteli Figueiredo Gallardo
Coauthor 2: Telma Maria Pinheiro
Coauthor 3: Erick Mauricio Corimanya