Summary
The northeast region of Brazil is one of the least developed regions of the country. Nevertheless, the development of electricity consumption in this region, where the electricity producer CHESF is responsible for the energy supply, was above the Brazilian average at the end of the 1970s. With growth rates of around 15% p.a., electricity consumption had tripled since the mid-1960s. For this reason, considerable expansion measures were taken in the areas of generation, transmission and distribution. Frequently occurring reactive currents in the transmission grids not only cause losses but also voltage drops, which can lead to very high values in the event of sudden load changes and thus endanger plant components in the grid or at the consumer. Sometimes, network oscillations occur, which then often lead to a breakdown of the network. Due to the further expansion of the transmission network, conventional compensation measures are no longer sufficient. Additional measures had to be taken to compensate for the strong reactive power in the grid.
The funding will finance approx. 50% of the total costs (EUR 31.2 million) of the project measures. The major part of the funds will be used for the construction and installation of reactive power compensation for the Teresina station. In addition, the procurement and installation of grid protection equipment, testing and laboratory equipment, the construction of a 127 km long 230/69 kV line from Rio Largo to Penedo to eliminate bottlenecks in the CHESF transmission grid and the conversion and expansion measures in the Zebú and Messias substations will be financed. The programme component "Alagoas grid expansion" was completed in October 1997. The work on the extension of the Teresina station was completed at the end of 1998.
