Iguaçu River: drought
season and the impact in the
hydroelectric power in Brazil
Amanda Reichert - M.Sc. - EWRE
Project objective
• Correlate the droughts in Iguaçu River with
the supply of energy from hydroelectric
power plants using the ArcGIS tools
Location
• Iguaçu River - Paraná State - Brazil
Hydrology description
• Iguaçu River has an average
flow rate of 1,746 m³/s
• 1,320 kilometres (820 mi)
long
• 5 Hydroelectric power plants
• Iguaçu Falls
• The Iguaçu Falls has the second-greatest average annual flow,
after Niagara Falls, with an average rate of 1,746 m³/s (Niagara
Falls: 2,400 m³/s)
• Maximum recorded flow 12,800 m³/s (Niagara Falls: 8,300 m³/s)
Why I chose this topic?
Importance of Hydroelectric
Power in Brazil
• Hydroelectric power plants
produce over 90% of the
electrical energy consumed
in Brazil
• Itaipu Dam corresponds to
25% (14,000 MW)
• Iguaçu River: 5 Hydroelectric
Power Plants – distribute its
energy to Paraná State and
the remaining (almost 40%)
to other regions in Brazil
Power from the Iguaçu River
• Foz do Areia (1,676 MW) • Salto Santiago (1,420 MW)
• Salto Osório (1,078 MW) • Salto Caxias (1,240 MW)
• Segredo (1,260 MW)
Monthly Average Flow Rate (time
series tables)
FOZ DO AREIA - Volumetric flow (m³/s)
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
JAN
FEV
MAR
ABR
MAI
JUN
JUL
AGO
SET
OUT
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2007
2008
2009
2010
2006
NOV
2000
DEZ
Precipitation data analysis (1990_2010)
JANUARY
APRIL
JULY
OCTOBER
FEBRUARY
MAY
MARCH
JUNE
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Precipitation data analysis (1990_2010)
Precipitation Scenario - Paraná State
450
1990
400
1991
1992
350
Total Precipitation (mm)
1994
1995
300
1996
250
1997
1998
200
1999
2000
150
2002
100
2003
2004
50
2005
2007
0
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
What happened in 2006?
• The energy supply in
Brazil is interconnected
and controlled by the
National Interconnected
System (SIN) - system
allows different regions
to exchange power
among them
• During
the
drought
season of 2006, the
Paraná State had their
energy supplied by
other regions
Conclusion
• ArcGIS can be very useful to SIN system
to demonstrate graphically and predict the
impact of a drought year
Questions?