In February, PSR presented in Asunción, Paraguay, the preliminary results of a study on the effects of climate change on the flows of the Paraná River and adaptation measures for hydroelectric systems in the country. The study was financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Actively participating in the study were a number of institutions, including the Ministry of Mines and Energy of Paraguay, the Administración Nacional de Electricidad (ANDE), Itaipu binacional, Yaciretá, local universities, among others. The study is coordinated by PSR and carried out in partnership with the companies Esenerg (Paraguay) and Meteosim (Spain).
The meeting was attended in person by the vice-minister of Mines and Energy of Paraguay, Mauricio Bejarano; IDB representatives Manuel Fernandini Puga and Veronica Prado; and José Vallejos, head of ANDE’s Energy Studies division; in addition to Silvio Binato, an expert on International Studies at PSR, and several representatives from other institutions interested in the results of the study.
The importance of the study is due to the fact that practically all of Paraguay’s electricity production is of hydroelectric origin. In addition to serving the national system, the country also exports its hydroelectric surplus to Brazil, through Itaipu (binational with 14 thousand MW of capacity), and to Argentina, through the Yaciretá plant (binational with 3 thousand MW of capacity).
According to Silvio Binato, the study takes a long-term view, including projection scenarios for energy demand and supply in Paraguay until 2070. For supply projection studies, three cases were developed: in the first case, the effects of climate change on flows; in the second case, moderate effects are considered; and the last case considers more extreme effects of climate change.
To carry out the studies, PSR’s OPTGEN (generation expansion) and SDDP (long-term optimization of electrical energy dispatch) computational tools were used.
The presentation of the final results of the study is scheduled to take place in May, also in Asunción, Paraguay.
For PSR, in addition to Silvio Binato, Rafael Kelman, executive director; Tainá Martins, specialist in Water Resources and the Environment; and Matheus Gonçalves, lead analyst in International Studies, participate in the study.
