Santa Catarina Supports 52 Small Hydropower Projects
Thursday, May 21st, 2009The southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina (SC) has made a heavy commitment to small hydro. The SC State Secretary for Sustainable Economic Development (SDS), Onofre Santo Agostini, just signed 14 portarias authorizing the construction of 14 new small hydroelectric plants (known in Brazil as pequenas centrais hidrelétricas – PCHs). In Brazil any hydroelectric plant […]
R$101 mil. for Small Hydro in Bahia / R$101 milhões para PCH em Bahia
Monday, April 13th, 2009From the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES): BNDES approves R$ 101 million in financing for Bahia PCH I The directors of the BNDES have approved R$ 101 million in financing for the company Bahia PCH I. The funds will be used to construct a Small Hydroelectric Plant (PCH Sítio Grande), with installed capacity of 25 megawatts […]
Brazil’s Light for All Program Promotes Renewable Energy
Friday, February 27th, 2009A six-year old program to bring electricity to all Brazil’s citizens has concluded that solar, wind or mini-hydro power, or in some cases power generated by natural gas, may be the most practical solution to bring power to remote places in the Amazon or the Pantanal. To encourage the use of alternative forms of energy, […]
Toward a Sustainable Energy Matrix for Peru? / ¿Hasta nueva matriz de energía sostenible en el Perú?
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009Because of their choice of headline (“IDB Support Creation of New Sustainable Energy Matrix in Peru”), most readers of the IDB’s press release on this loan might come away with the impression that the loan is mostly about the promotion of non-traditional renewable energy sources (wind power, small hydro, geothermal) and bioenergy. Read between the […]
Banco do Brasil Adopts Its Own Agenda 21
Tuesday, June 26th, 2007Photo: Valter Campanato/ Agência Brasil Synopsis in English: With much fanfare in the Brazilian media, Brazil’s oldest (founded 1808) bank and one of its largest and most profitable, Banco do Brasil (BB), announced on 30 May the launch of its very own “Agenda 21” (Agenda 21 is the name of the plan of action resulting […]
A Business-NGO Pact to Seek a New Brazilian Climate Change Policy
Thursday, April 26th, 2007On Tuesday the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (Conselho Empresarial Brasileiro para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável – CEBDS), the state-owned energy giant Petrobras, the energy-cement-chemicals-cellulose conglomerate Votorantim, Greenpeace Brasil and WWF-Brasil signed a “Climate Defense Pact.” CEBDS is the Brazilian chapter of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
PAC’ing Brazil III: Energy, Petrochemicals and Biofuels
Saturday, March 3rd, 2007In Part I, I provided an overview of what the Program for Accelerated Growth (Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento – PAC) proposed by President Lula is and why it matters to the issues I discuss in The Temas Blog. I also discussed its most direct impact on environment policy, the proposed changes in environmental licensing. […]
A Sustainable Energy Plan for Brazil?
Tuesday, November 28th, 2006The Government’s Energy Vision Last Wednesday Brazil’s Energy Research Corporation (EPE) released the National Energy Plan 2030, the government’s blueprint for energy development for the next 24 years. The EPE is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), charged with energy planning. The principal theme of the plan can be found in […]