The environmental impacts generated by hydroelectric plants are evidenced in several studies around the world and each time the energy and the enterprises are questioned in the face of the negative externalities caused by the construction of their dams. Damage can still be aggravated, for example, because they are located cumulatively in the same watercourses, or in sensitive ecosystem environments. These cases have already been demonstrated in countries such as China and the USA, which are the largest generators of hydroelectric energy in the world, and in Brazil, which occupies third place in this ranking and maintains an expansionary energy policy focused on energy investment from renewable sources with hydroelectric plants contributing significantely to the country's generating capacity. The socio-environmental changes generated by plants in the Amazon, for example, are the subject of research that includes various means and alert the world to the medium and long-term problems that the biome may suffer, considering the biodiversity of the Amazon as of great global importance. In spite of this, this dissertation carried out a study on the distribution of hydroelectric plants in Brazil, in operation and planned, on the Brazilian biomes. With the help of GIS tools and geostatistical analysis, a diagnosis is made of the expansion of the plants with the objective of investigate whether there is a preference for the installation of the plants in the biomes and if the characteristics of the plants (eg. reservoir area, brasilian State which the plant is installed, etc.) may influence the power of the plant. As a main result, we found a significative dependence of Brazilian Atlantic Forest on the current generation of hydroelectric in the country. The Brazilian Cerrado and Amazon Forest, which will receive the greatest power increase of the planned plants, are characterized as new expansionary hydro-energy frontiers. In view of the biodiversity importance of these biomes, we believe that the results are of the utmost importance for a nationwide view of the distribution of the country's hydroelectric power plants, serving as an instrument and stimulus for a government policy aimed at prioritizing conservation strategies for the sensitive biomes more effectively
|
