ONS switches on northeast plants

Brazil's national grid operator ONS has switched on nine thermoelectric generators in the northeast to supply an extra 800MW to counter hydroelectric plants' dwindling reservoirs and rising consumption, newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported. The ONS had switched off the plants during Christmas week to keep power bills down, but now turned on six oil-fired plants to produce 400MW, as well as three gas-fired plants to produce 400MW. The generators will dispatch from December 27 through at least January 2, when the ONS plans to review the situation, the newspaper reported. The diesel plants are part of an emergency supply program put in place after the 2001-2002 energy rationing through which a surcharge on consumers' bills will be used to keep around 50 generators on call and capable of generating up to 2,000MW. This is the first time that the generators have been used, which will result in another surcharge on bills over the extra 0.0085 reais per kWh (US$0.0029) currently charged. The cost of electricity supplied by the thermo generators is about 300 reais per MWh, compared to about 75 reais per MWh charged by hydro generators in the region. The gas-fired generators are part of the priority thermoelectric program (PPT), which is limited because of scarce gas supply. Up to now, surplus energy from the south and southeast were being transferred to the area. Consumption in the northeast rose 10% in the past 12 months, well above the 6% average for the whole country. However, reservoir levels have fallen to 14% of full capacity because of lack of rainfall.