In an interview with Radio Eldorado, the president of Abradee presented possible solutions
Among the consequences of the windstorm recorded in São Paulo in recent days, thousands of homes found themselves without electricity. At 1:32 p.m. this Friday, 669,497 were without electricity, according to the energy company. Énel. In an interview with Radio EldoradoMarcos Madureira, president of the Brazilian Association of Electricity Distributors (Abradee) said that this was an issue that needed to be thought about together.
“What normally destroys the network is not the wind. It is usually the trees that fall on the network and interrupt the power, so it is an issue that must be solved jointly,” he said.
In a note, the Enel Distribution São Paulo declared that the event caused “serious damage to electrical infrastructure” and that sections of the network will have to be reconstructed. As a solution, one of the proposals consists of burying the wires of the overhead electrical network. The big problem is the high cost – underground networks are estimated to cost around 10 times more than pole-mounted cables.
“It is a path, without a doubt, but it has a higher cost and must be absorbed in the electricity tariff. This does not mean that we have to change all the networks. The volume of underground networks in Brazil is very low,” explains Madureira.
Since its creation in 2017, the SP Sem Fios program has so far buried 46.5 km of underground network.
For Madureira, the burial could take place in part of the electricity network “with different rates in certain regions”.
THE The National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) affirms, in a note, that the choice of the type of infrastructure belongs to the distributors. “As the cost of underground networks is approximately 10 times higher than that of overhead networks, their adoption could result in tariffs increasing to unacceptable levels,” he says. “As resources are scarce, directing them to non-priority projects can lead to a deterioration in service delivery.”
“We are witnessing an increase in extreme weather events, both in intensity and frequency. We are entering the third year in a row with events very different from the advent that is expected of an urban infrastructure – its own network, its own tree and others that exist in the city. In other words, we live in a different moment,” Madureira said.
“This new reality involves greater investments and the sector is doing it. If you look basically at the retail segment, in general now: we went from investment levels of around 20 billion until around 2020 and now there are around 45 billion per year. In other words, more than double what was invested at the end of the last decade.”
Listen to the full interview:
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