Energy consumption in the Amazon broke a new record this Thursday, the 4th. At exactly 2:39 p.m., demand reached 6,185 megawatts, surpassing the previous highest mark, from September 17, 2013, which was 6,109, according to the National System Operator.
On that same day, reservoirs in the North region were operating at 60.5% of their capacity, which fell 1.1% compared to the previous day. The Tucuruí hydroelectric plant had 35.92% of its stored volume. Despite the drop in water quantity, the reservoir (with a capacity of up to 45 trillion liters) will grow again with the start of the rainy season in the Amazon.
There was also a record in the Northeast on the same day, with a load of 11,839 MW, which surpassed the previous record of 11,809 MW, recorded on December 4 of last year.
In August, energy consumption in the Amazon grew 2.5% compared to the previous month, July, but was 1.1% lower than in August 2013. This performance was affected by the sharp reduction, throughout this year, in the load of a free consumer in the metallurgy sector, which contributed to the negative variation in the load (-2.0%) already in this month of September. The National System Operator, responsible for the information, did not mention the name of this consumer, but it is probably Albrás, which is the largest individual energy consumer in Brazil.
The energy load in the North region was 5,173 average megawatts, which represented less than 10% of national demand. According to experts, one of the most influential factors in the behavior of the load in the Amazon is the performance of large electro-intensive consumers in the basic grid. These consumers represent about a third of the load in the region’s energy system.
Across the entire National Interconnected System, demand in August of this year was 62,700 MW on average. It remained stable compared to August 2013, according to the Monthly Load Bulletin released last Friday by the ONS. Compared to the previous month, growth was 2.6%. In the accumulated total of the last twelve months, the system, one of the largest in the world, had an increase of 4.2% compared to the same previous period. This performance is below expectations and below previous annual averages. According to the ONS, this fact is explained by the reduction in the pace of industrial activity in Brazil.
