Biodiversity and Energy Generation and Transmission
In addition to the environmental studies conducted during the licensing processes for the construction, expansion, and maintenance of power generation and transmission projects, Copel GeT periodically conducts an integrated assessment of its operational areas with regard to biodiversity. This is important for updating the context in which the projects are located (many of which predate the formal creation of protected areas), providing an overview of how the Company’s assets relate to biodiversity, and guiding its actions and management in this area.
In the most recent update, the locations of all the Company’s hydroelectric plants were analyzed in relation to the list of Conservation Units registered in official databases, as well as other formally established areas relevant to biodiversity, such as Priority Areas for Biodiversity Conservation (APCBs), Biosphere Reserves, areas with high concentrations of migratory birds, and areas where threatened bird species are found.
Copel GeT thus assessed approximately 60,000 hectares based on their proximity to areas critical for biodiversity conservation in the state of Paraná. This assessment considered not only the areas built on and actually used by the operational units, but also their surrounding areas, in accordance with the following premises:
- Operational units located within protected areas;
- Operational units located in the vicinity of protected areas: in this case, a 3-km buffer zone was applied for all categories of conservation units; and
- Operational units overlapping with other areas relevant to biodiversity: for this analysis, the Priority Areas for Biodiversity Conservation (APCBs) defined by the Ministry of the Environment, the Biosphere Reserves recognized by UNESCO, and areas relevant to migratory and endangered bird species, as defined by CEMAVE (National Center for Research and Conservation of Wild Birds), were considered.
Of the 60,000 hectares analyzed, 2,420 (4%) are located within protected areas, and 5,163 (9%) are located in the vicinity of protected areas—that is, within a three-kilometer buffer zone around these areas. It is important to note that all legally protected areas (Conservation Units) that overlap with or are located near Copel GeT’s hydroelectric plants were formally established after the construction of these projects.
Another important point to highlight is that part of the area occupied by these projects corresponds to the Permanent Preservation Area (APP), which must be maintained around the power plants’ reservoirs. This means that a portion of the “area affected by the project” actually has a positive impact on biodiversity. In the case of the power plants analyzed, the total area of the APPs accounts for 14% of the total hectares analyzed.
Regarding the other areas relevant to biodiversity that were analyzed, it is worth noting that it is common for them to overlap (for example, areas with high concentrations of migratory birds overlapping with APCBs and the Biosphere Reserve); for this reason, the values reported in this section of the table should not be added together but rather evaluated individually.
| Ecologically sensitive area | Development (area of the development located within or in the buffer zone of the ecologically sensitive area, in hectares) | |||||||||||||
| UHE GPS | UHE GBM | UHE GNB | PCH DRJ | UHE GJR | PCH BLV | UHE GJC | ||||||||
| Location: 725357 E – 7205551 N (22S) | Location: 433437 E – 7123058 N (22S) | Location: 388554 E – 7147000 N (22S) | Location: 390984 E – 7150685 N (22S) | Location: 249574 E – 7172632 N (22S) | Location: 309660 E – 7144322 N (22S) | Location: 529765 E – 7338848 N (22S) | ||||||||
| Year operations began: 1970 | Year operations began: 1980 | Year operations began: 1992 | Year operations began: 1996 | Year operations began: 1999 | Year operations began: 2021 | Year operations began: 2012 | ||||||||
| área total (ha): | 2.807 | Total area (ha): | 15.107 | Total area (ha): | 7.913 | Total area (ha): | 595 | Total area (ha): | 20.422 | Total area (ha): | 372 | Total area (ha): | 11.863 | |
| APP (ha): | 17 | APP (ha): | 2.516 | APP (ha): | 132 | APP (ha): | 240 | APP (ha): | 411 | APP (ha): | 294 | APP (ha): | 4.870 | |
| Affected area (excluding APP): | 2.790 | Affected area (excluding APP): | 12.591 | Affected area (excluding APP): | 7.781 | Affected area (excluding APP): | 355 | Affected area (excluding APP): | 20.011 | Affected area (excluding APP): | 79 | Affected area (excluding APP): | 6.993 | |
| Protected Areas (UCs) | Inside | buffer 3km | Inside | buffer 3km | Inside | buffer 3km | Inside | buffer 3km | Inside | buffer 3km | Inside | buffer 3km | Inside | buffer 3km |
| APA1 | 47 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Ecological Station2 | 148 | 1.387 | ||||||||||||
| State Park3 | 50 | 1.306 | 2.218 | 2.219 | ||||||||||
| Wildlife Refuge4 | 204 | |||||||||||||
| Other Areas Relevant to Biodiversity | Overlap | Overlap | Overlap | Overlap | Overlap | Overlap | Overlap | |||||||
| APCB | 2.806 | 2.702 | 4.769 | 595 | 13.705 | 4.482 | ||||||||
| Endangered Birds Section | 2.358 | 5.024 | 2.384 | 595 | 115 | |||||||||
| Migration Hotspots | 449 | 881 | 5 | 391 | 598 | 99 | ||||||||
| Biosphere Reserve | 2.477 | 15.075 | 7.917 | 595 | 20.411 | 372 | 10.055 | |||||||
1 APAs established after the power plants were built.
2 Ecological Station established in 2001, after the power plant was built, as compensation for its construction.
3 State parks established after the power plants were built.
4 Created in 1983, originally as a Forest Reserve, and reclassified as a Wildlife Refuge in 2012.
Copel GeT’s projects comply with environmental licensing requirements and include programs focused on assessing and managing impacts on biodiversity. These initiatives aim to prevent, minimize, restore, mitigate, or offset negative impacts, as well as enhance positive impacts within the projects’ areas of influence.
In addition, Copel GeT maintains socio-environmental programs focused on managing operational areas and the physical environment, as well as fauna and flora. These programs guide environmental monitoring, conservation, and restoration efforts, including the monitoring of fauna, flora, fish fauna, reservoir buffer zones (APPs), and other environments associated with power plants, transmission lines, and wind farms.
The Company also identifies opportunities for improvement to continuously expand and enhance biodiversity management. Over the next few years, it plans to review the relationship between transmission projects and wind farm complexes and ecologically sensitive areas.
Total Copel GeT Owned Assets | Number | Area occupied by the projects (in ha) | Integrated Biodiversity Analysis |
| Hydroelectric Plants (UHEs and PCHs) | 7 | 59,080 | 100% |
| Wind Farms | 8 | 8,000 | In progress |
| Power lines and substations | 60 | 14,300 | In progress |
| Total | 75 | 81,380 |
