PRAYING to St Peter is not much of an energy policy. Yet that is what Brazil’s government seems to be doing by counting on rain—which, according to folklore, São Pedro dispenses at the pearly gates—to sort out a looming electricity crisis.Hydropower generates 80% of Brazil’s electricity. Typically, reservoirs fill up in the rainy season, from December to March, and are depleted in the dry southern winter. This year St Peter has skimped. Brazil experienced the second-driest January in 80 years. On February 10th the water levels in the south-east and centre-west, home to 70% of the country’s reservoirs and half its people, dipped below 37% of capacity, the lowest since 2001. With no rain in sight, they are set to drop further.Meanwhile consumption has soared. In January Brazilians used 10% more energy than in the same period in 2013. Peak demand reached an all-time high of 86GW on February 6th.Weather and wealth help to explain rising consumption: the hottest summer in living memory coupled with higher incomes means more Brazilians are seeking respite from the heat with power-hungry air-conditioners. But government policy is also responsible. In 2012 President...
via The Economist: The Americas http://ift.tt/1iSk8go
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