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The Federal Government Measure Aims to Primarily Reduce Electricity Costs in Some Isolated Regions of the Country
Electricity is a commodity that many Brazilians still do not have access to at a reasonable cost. The vast majority of these people live in isolated regions, such as parts of the Amazon. Many communities use diesel generators to produce energy. Of course, this alternative is very inefficient, expensive, and polluting. To address the problem, the Federal Government published a decree regulating the program ‘Pró-Amazônia’.
What Is Pro-Amazônia
This is the Program for Structural Cost Reduction in Energy Generation in the Legal Amazon and Navigability of the Madeira and Tocantins Rivers (Pro-Amazônia Legal). The program is expected to receive R$ 295 million annually from Eletronorte to fund projects aimed at reducing the costs of electricity in these isolated regions of the Amazon.
The government highlights that approximately 3 million people from the regions of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, and Roraima will benefit from the Pro-Amazônia Legal program.
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“Normally, these locations, due to their remoteness, rely heavily on fossil fuels, diesel. And it is not always possible to serve these communities 24 hours a day. The idea, by introducing this program, is to replace this fossil fuel with the use of renewable energy sources, renewable fuels, energy efficiency, upgrading equipment, and improving energy use in these more remote locations and, if possible, integrating these locations into the National Interconnected System using transmission or distribution lines,” explained Thiago Prado, director of the Department of Energy Planning at the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME).
The good news is that the measure will not only benefit people living in isolated areas but also the population in general: “The program can reach not only those living in isolated communities but also consumers in the Interconnected System, because parts of these costs are borne in our tariff on the electricity bill,” says Thiago.
Part of the funds from the Pro-Amazônia program will also be used to improve the navigability of the Madeira River, which runs from Rondônia to Amazonas, and the Tocantins River, which originates in Goiás, passing through the states of Tocantins, Maranhão, and Pará.
“There will be R$ 3 billion over the course of 10 years, and the Government will have 15 years to apply these resources. If these resources are not utilized, we will be able to allocate them to our Energy Development Account, also aimed at reducing electricity costs,” concluded the MME director.
Click here to access all the details of the decree.
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