Faced with climate change, Eletrobras investing in asset modernization and innovation

Brazil’s Eletrobras is investing in the modernization of generation and transmission assets and aims to guarantee the continuity of operations amid extreme weather conditions.

The electric power giant is expected to invest almost 5bn reais (US$880mn) this year in modernizing power plants, lines and substations.

“Eletrobras has invested in technologies that enable better performance, reliability and efficiency for equipment and systems. We aim to maintain our leadership in electricity generation and transmission, and we’re doing all this with a balance between system security and efficient capital allocation,” the company's VP of expansion engineering, Robson Pinheiro Rodrigues de Campos, told BNamericas.

The capex forecast for generation this year is 1.42bn reais, with a focus on the Tucuruí hydroelectric plants in Pará state, Porto Colômbia on the border of Minas Gerais and São Paulo, the Paulo Afonso hydroelectric complex (plants I, II, III and IV and Apolonio Sales) in Bahia, and the Sobradinho (Bahia), Xingó (Alagoas/Sergipe) and Luiz Gonzaga (Pernambuco) plants. 

Eletrobras owns 98 plants, of which 47 are hydroelectric, seven thermal, 43 wind and one solar. 

The company's total installed capacity reached 44,279MW in the second quarter of 2024, or 22% of Brazil’s total. 

During the quarter, investment in generation totaled 731mn reais, of which 430mn were for the implementation of the Coxilha Negra wind farm, in Rio Grande do Sul. With capacity of 302MW, it is Eletrobras’ largest generation investment underway, totaling 2bn reais. 

The company invested 301mn reais in maintenance of generation assets in Q2, with emphasis on improvements at the Paulo Afonso IV, Sobradinho, Tucuruí, Batalha, Manso, Marimbondo and Corumbá hydroelectric plants, and also at the Mauá 3 thermoelectric plant.

Meanwhile, Eletrobras is investing 3.4bn reais in modernizing its transmission infrastructure this year.

The holding’s companies have a total of 11,130 small-scale projects being implemented or to be implemented, of which 10,491 are improvements and 639 are reinforcements. 

In addition, 246 large-scale transmission projects (reinforcements, improvements and auction commitments) are being deployed, with associated additional annual permitted revenue (RAP) of 1.2bn reais between 2024 and 2028, which will add around 390km of transmission lines and 4,549MVA in substations. 

Eletrobras will also invest 5.6bn reais over the next few years in construction work for the four lots allocated in a transmission auction held by the federal government this year.

The company is responsible for around 37% of Brazil’s transmission lines with voltage of at least 230kV.

Innovation

Eletrobras is also investing in digitizing its power plants and transmission lines using the BIM (building information modeling) methodology.

In generation, BIM was initially developed for the Sobradinho hydro plant, with 3D scanning and modeling of the facilities, and was then applied to the basic project and modernization contract for the Paulo Afonso IV plant, also with 3D scanning and modeling.

Global pioneers, the projects are included in an Eletrobras program that also involves digitizing around 300 substations. 

BIM enables projects to be drawn up in three-dimensional form, with real-time integration between the different engineering disciplines, working simultaneously on projects and reducing deadlines in the planning and implementation stage. 

In addition, BIM software has mechanisms for identifying interferences and design errors, reducing the number of problems during the construction stage.

After the implementation stage, BIM continues to generate potential gains in asset maintenance and operation processes, linking an interactive three-dimensional model to the company's asset monitoring systems in real time, with a digital twin. 

Eletrobras' director of transmission engineering, Luciana Martins, says this is a major step forward in reducing the hours invested in projects. 

“The improvements are in installation, maintenance and regulatory procedures. The challenges are great because of the volume of the company's installations and assets, but we've managed to gain in terms of information quality and speed,” Martins told BNamericas.

Extreme weather phenomena

Faced with the increasing impact of climate change, Eletrobras has created an integrated center for meteorological monitoring and intelligence known as Atmos.

Still in the implementation phase, Atmos involves a series of innovations aimed at guaranteeing the continuity and efficiency of the company's operations in increasingly adverse environmental conditions. 

“Our climate change center is already in use for preventive action against rain, heatwaves, excessive winds and fires. Our priority is the safety of assets, the environment and people,” Antônio Varejão de Godoy, Eletrobras’ VP of operations and safety, told BNamericas.

The VP of innovation, R&D, digital and IT, Juliano Dantas, says Atmos is part of innovations by Eletrobras that aim to make the company a benchmark in technologies for the energy transition and climate change.

“In this case, using data from various sources and increasingly robust models, both phenomenological and using AI,” Dantas told BNamericas. 

Atmos provides real-time weather monitoring, analysis and forecasting, reports and alerts.