Commercial Impacts
The representation of different interests on water uses is important to prevent conflicts and seek to guarantee water availability for multiple uses and for present and future generations. The management of water resources carried out by Copel complies with the National Water Resources Policy (LAW No. 9.433, of January 8, 1997), which highlights the following guidelines: in situations of scarcity, the priority use of water resources is for consumption human and animal drinking; the management of water resources must always provide for the multiple use of water; and the management of water resources must be decentralized and count on the participation of the government, users and communities. In situations of water stress (quality or quantity), the water resources management agency intermediates conflicts of interest.
Generally, this potential conflict is mapped by the Company itself, which indicates possible ways to reconcile the interests. In addition, Copel actively participates in the management of water resources in their different environments (National Water Resources Council, State Water Resources Council, Hydrographic Basin Committees and their Technical Chambers), where water resources topics are treated and discussed, ensuring that issues related to changes in water availability are always under discussion and are duly monitored and treated by Copel. Additionally, for the operation of the projects, the Company seeks to learn about the multiple uses of the hydrographic basin and develops the operating rules of its projects in order to make these uses feasible.
In addition to the fact that it correctly manages water resources, the impacts on Copel’s business are minimized as its plants are part of the National Interconnected System, which has hydroelectric, thermal and solar plants and interconnected transmission lines to meet the energy demands of all regions of Brazil.
As it is a country of continental dimensions, Brazil has hydroelectric facilities in its various regions (south, southeast, midwest, north and northeast) whose hydrology is highly variable throughout the year, with complementarity between regions.
Thus, when there is a shortage in a given region, in another there is water availability to supply the demand for energy in the country. Changes in average monthly rainfall, which may cause an increase in the average inflows to the plants operated by Copel, may also have impacts such as the need to review the design of structures in order to increase their capacity in the face of new data and increase the physical guarantee of generation of the uses.
To minimize possible impacts of this nature, Copel invests in hydroclimatological monitoring to provide data series in its area of operation and in places where it has an interest in new ventures, in order to collect as much information as possible to support project reviews and interventions that may be necessary.
