The Ministry of Mines and Energy will decide on Tuesday (15) on the adoption of daylight saving time in Brazil later this year. Minister Alexandre Silveira will meet with the technical team at the ministry building in Brasília to define the issue. Given the urgency of the decision, Silveira reduced his vacation period by one week and will return to work next Monday (14). “The summary of the opera is that if there is an energy risk, there is no other issue other than implementing summer time”, said Silveira this Friday (11), in Rome, after participating as a speaker in the last panel II Esfera Internacional Forum .
Summer time – Archive/Brazil Agency
“If there is no energy risk, then it is a cost-benefit that I will have the tranquility, serenity and courage to decide in favor of Brazil and in favor of Brazil does not always mean that it will save half a percent, one percent on the bill of energy, because what impact on other sectors? This has to be a balance. I’m glad the dialogue policy is back. With this policy we have peace of mind and with great depth reach a moment in which we can clearly show the best path to follow”, added the minister, highlighting that “there is no way it won’t be this week, because there wouldn’t be time to take advantage of the best window that is November, if the decision is not taken this week”.
According to Silveira, the meeting was scheduled for Tuesday because of the “indispensability of it being now” and, for this to happen, it needs to happen immediately to allow the sectors that will be impacted to prepare, although, according to him, the Careful that he had to talk to the very important sectors for which they are planning.
“If there is something that cannot be compromised in a public policy of this dimension, it is the issue of predictability. The biggest importance of summer time and it is very important is between October 15th and November 30th. Until December 15th it has a strong importance, not that it won’t have it after, but the curve of its importance will decrease”, he said.
Silveira highlighted that daylight saving time is a public policy applied worldwide and should not be treated as an ideological issue. “First, I want to note that daylight saving time is a public policy that is not national. It is implemented in several countries and especially in developed countries. It is a public policy that should not be treated as an ideological issue and it was treated like this by the previous government, simply removing it in 2019”, he noted.
Water crisis
The minister added that water and hydroelectric plants, when they are not, as is the case of Belo Monte, located on the Xingu River, in Pará, which did not obtain licensing to build them with a reservoir, they naturally depend on rainfall issues. The numbers indicate that the current water crisis is serious.
Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant – Photo: Bruno Batista/VPR
“The Cemaden [Centro Nacional de Monitoramento e Alertas de Desastres Naturais] found that since 1950, when he measured the rainfall issue in Brazil, we have experienced the worst water crisis in the last 73 years, which led us, if we had not taken preventive measures, such as reducing the flow of Jupiá and Porto Primavera, courageous we take during the year, preserving 11% of fresh water in our reservoirs, today we would have an energy problem in Brazil. We don’t have it, we have peace of mind for this period, but we have to balance between security and reasonable tariffs and we also have to prepare planning for 2026”, he commented.
Election
Minister Alexandre Silveira also said that, if adopted by the government, daylight saving time will not impact the second round of the election, scheduled for the 27th of this month. “If it is decreed, it will not affect the election, because there must be at least 20 days for extremely important sectors to plan, such as the airline sector because of international connections and other sectors such as public security”.
He says everything is being analyzed with great care and serenity. “Imagine the responsibility of a state minister for a decision like this. If he does it unnecessarily, he is naturally taking a measure that is transversal and has a cost in some sectors of the economy, although for others it is beneficial, but in some sectors of the economy it is very damaging. If he doesn’t do it, and there’s a problem, it’s the minister’s responsibility. An energy problem is not a problem, it’s a big problem”, he explained about the complexity of the decision.
The minister recalled that President Lula already said in an interview that this decision is not political and delegated its management to his minister of state. “I will do it, with the courage of someone who has to decide. I will do so very much anchored in technical bases and in political and social sensitivity, so that people defending, as I defend daylight saving time as a public policy, only use this public policy if it is essential to ensure energy for Brazil and reduce energy costs. costs that no longer have a negative impact and save money for the consumer”, he added.
ONS
At an ordinary October meeting of the Electricity Sector Monitoring Committee (CMSE) on Wednesday (9), the National Electrical System Operator (ONS) presented projections for the period from October 2024 to March 2025.
Rio de Janeiro (RJ) 09/19/2024 – Headquarters building and logo of the National Electric System Operator (ONS), which recommends the adoption of summer time. Photo: Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil
The numbers indicate uncertainties regarding the beginning and conditions of the wet period, although some models indicate a higher level of precipitation from the second half of this month. “With the severe drought of recent months, the next rains need, initially, to allow the soil to recover its moisture so that, subsequently, an increase in flow levels can be observed”, informed the ONS in a note.
According to the data from the two scenarios of the prospective studies, the projections of Natural Energy Influent in the National Interconnected System (SIN) in the horizon from October/24 to March/25 are below the Long Term Average (MLT). “Stored Energy projections (EAR) indicate that the Southeast/Central-West subsystem would reach, at the end of March 2025, in the upper scenario, 13.8 pp above the storage verified in March 2024. In the lower scenario, this projection would be 23.4 pp below what was verified”, added the Operator.
“In the short term, the EAR analysis shows the continued reduction in reservoir levels over the next three months, with the recovery of volumes estimated to occur from January 2025,” he stated in the note. In the ONS’ understanding, the main challenge identified by the agency until December is meeting peak load times, the time when demand reaches its peak, which generally happens between 6pm and 8pm.
“The projections indicated by prospective studies are used to support decision-making by the CMSE board regarding the need to adopt or maintain preventive operational measures with a view to increasing the security of the SIN. The Operator continues to monitor the situation and the results of the initiatives implemented with the aim of ensuring that SIN’s cargo demand is met”, he informed.
