Potential development of the Uruguay River basin

Electricity supply has grown at very substantial rates in Brazil during the decades of 1960 and 1970. The majority of the electricity supplied within the country derives from hydropower and future development is still very much based on this source. Within the more industrialized South and Southeast there is the Uruguai River basin, with a significant capacity for generation of more than 8000 MW of electric power at still very attractive costs. Besides the low costs, other favorable aspects are present, such as the proximity to main load centers, existing transmission facilities and comparatively low social and environmental impacts. The requirement by the Brazilian constitution that new concessions for power development are to be established through a tendering process, open an oportunity among the best in the world for investment in hydroelectricity at low production costs, within an area of substantial economic growth.