Day 2

After our first night at FLOPH, where I'm rooming with my man Aryel, we kicked off the day with a surprisingly traditional american breakfast. We couldn't stay long though, and took off for Capivari de Baixo to visit Tractebel Energia. The bus rides are sure to be plenty of entertainment and I hope to have some quality pictures of everyone sleeping soon. Once we arrived at Tractabel our guide Pablo gave an overview of the company in the form of two videos. Owned by GDF Suez, they are a subset of one of the world's largest utility companies. We learned that similar to Brazil, Tractabel generates over 80% of its electricity via hydroelectric plants, and makes up roughly 7% of all Brazilian generation. The notable point I took from our discussion is the very likely growth of fossil fuel based generation in Brazil to create stable and reliable baseload generation independent of weather conditions. The current drought in Brazil has created dangerously low water levels and without rain in the near future, blackouts are likely.

If we look at the issue from a positive lens, a point worth noting is that Brazil has a national grid, meaning generation anywhere in country is fully capable of powering Sao Paulo and Rio. Additionally, the generation growth needed to maintain Tractabel's 7% share of the national generation is 66% by 2020. This means heavy support by the utility industry in Brazil's manufacturing industry and plenty of job opportunities. Tractabel, like each utility in Brazil, has to maintain certain standards set by ISO. Current standards mandate quality, environmental impact, and personal safety minimums and maximums, with plans to implement an energy efficiency standard.

After the lecture, the group was able to see a model of one of the units at the site, as well as an overview of the entire plant site. In Capivari de Baixo the site generates 857 MW which is capable of supporting 2 million people. Seeing a model of the turbine, generator, steam condensate storage tank, and all of the required pumps provided a great understanding of the loop used in generation. After the model we were able to see the control room for the plant with a detailed explanation of the closed loop used for boiling steam. For reliability the initial analog controls are all still used, but the system is very impressive visually. The turbine typically operates at roughly 3600 rpm, but one unit was actually out of service and we had the opportunity to view the generator rotor from a distance.

We learned that the coal used locally is very dirty relative to the quality of U.S. plants. As a result a great deal of ash is produced. One of Tractabel's projects is the construction of a community center on what used to be the ash field. A picture below shows one of the portraits I liked best in a small art gallery we had a chance to view.

After our long day at Tractabel we took the bus back to Tramandaí for dinner and a night just hanging out with new friends.