Eletrobras to Help Build Five Hydropower Dams in Peru

Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA, Latin America’s largest utility, will help build five hydroelectric dams in Peru, costing 25 billion to 30 billion reais ($11.1 billion to $13.3 billion), as Latin American power demand outstrips supply.

Eletrobras, as Brazil’s state utility holding company is known, aims to build the dams in the Amazon region of the Andean country with Peruvian and other partners, Brazilian Energy Minister Edison Lobao said today in an interview in Vienna. The dams would have the capacity to produce 5,000 megawatts of electricity and would sell power to Brazil, Peru and neighboring countries.
Peru faces blackouts this year because electricity-demand growth of 6 percent a year is outpacing supply, Expreso newspaper reported today, citing Alfredo Dammert, head of Peru’s energy regulator. Brazil needs to boost its generating capacity by 50 percent in 10 years to 150,000 megawatts, Lobao said.

“Brazil will import a sizeable amount of this energy,” Lobao said. “Eletrobras will enter in a supportive role with other partners, not as a majority partner.”

Bloomberg