Chapter 3. Regional Perspectives. Chile’s HidroAysén and Perús’ Inambari Projects
! Ernesto Geisel, Brazil has decisively expanded its hydropower generation portfolio throughout the country. In 2010, hydroelectricity accounted for 85% of all electricity generated in the country. (EIA, 2012) Similar to the case of Ecuadorian energy policy, infrastructure development carried out in the 1970s has left a strong legacy in Brazil. Having served as the President of publicly-owned oil company Petrobras in the late 1960s, Geisel was no stranger to the critical role government played in energy infrastructure and its intimate relationship with sovereign control over natural resources since the 1950s. (Levine, 1970) In fact, this is a critical element in Brazilian historical, internal and westward, territorial conquest. From the colonial era to the days of the military dictatorship, rulers have seen sovereignty over the Amazon as central to Brazil’s national security. (Baer, 2007; Teixeira, 1996) After a brief period of experimentation with imported nuclear technologies for electricity generation, the military leaders looked inward toward Brazil’s interior, and not just for hydropower potential. Geisel’s administration launched the Pró-Álcool program with the goal of significantly expanding the country’s sugar-cane crop for ethanol. The program did not yield results until the 2000s with the massive deployment of the ‘flex fuel engine,’ a technology that turned Brazil into a global leader in the ethanol industry. (Kovarik, 2008) In the early 1970s, these efforts initially appeared fruitless and simply helped Petrobras justify its push for offshore exploration; the results also justified the company’s own modest record in production up until that point. However, by the turn of the decade, offshore reserves along Brazil’s coast would considerably increase the country’s production capacity. (Philip, 1982) These exploration successes prefigured the recent offshore oil discoveries that have granted Brazil oil self-sufficiency. The 70s “big push” in the energy sector was about economic independence and a way to secure future development, and it paid off in the long-run. During the 1980s and 1990s, Brazil experienced the same controversies and difficulties as Ecuador and other developing countries: there was virtually no funding available for large hydropower, or for any kind of megaproject. Nonetheless, hydraulic power is central to Brazil’s electricity needs: over the last two decades, hydro has supplied between 70 and 90% of electricity. In 2006, when President Lula first rose to power, large scale energy ventures !
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