Jobs and People

Interview: Hydropower is the best option among renewable energy sources

Tags
Interview: Hydropower is the best option among renewable energy sources

Working at one of the world’s largest hydroelectric power plants provides Juliano Couto Portela with a unique perspective on the importance of hydropower as a global electricity source and as the “best” of the renewable generation options.

Portela is a senior engineer with Itaipu Binacional in Brazil, which, together with personnel in Paraguay, operates the 14 GW Itaipu hydro plant on the Parana River.

In May, Itaipu Binacional announced it had begun executing Object 1 of the Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant Technological Update Plan. The goal is to modernize equipment at the hydro facility with state-of-the-art digital technology.

In his role, Portela advises the superintendence of operations, with the experience of 28 years working as chief of staff of Itaipu’s Technical Directorate; as executive secretary of the Brazilian Committee for the Latin America and Caribbean Commission on Energetic Integration (CIER); and as an operations and maintenance engineer for the macro activities of generation, transmission and distribution. 

Here, Portela, in consultation with the team of experts in Itaipu’s superintendence of operations, shares his views on modern hydropower, challenges for new development and key markets for hydro.

Q: What does the term “modern hydropower” mean to you?

Portela: Modern hydropower must adequately balance the plant’s operational safety with the challenges brought by the worldwide increasing share of renewable energy sources in the energy matrix without considering the environmental concerns about the plant installations. 

Therefore, it’s my understanding that modern hydropower should focus on these four main concepts:

1. Massive digitalization. The full use of real-time structures to transform process acquisition data into knowledge helps the staff to operate and maintain the plant within desired parameters and assists in achieving the needed goals of reliability and safety.

2. Sustainable operational safety. By fully implementing massive digitalization and continuously specializing the workforce to deal with the new technologies, another goal is achieved: the sustainable safety of the plant’s operation. In this context, “safety” combines three dimensions: the people’s safety, the installation’s safety, and the environment’s safety.

3. Environmentally-friendly technologies. It is well-known that hydroelectricity raises environmental concerns. Therefore, investing in a technological design adapted to the environment is a must for future hydropower projects.

4. Energy storage. With the increase of non-dispatchable sources of electricity in power systems, we shall see an increase in energy storage by pumped hydropower plants. Moreover, as hydro projects based on big reservoirs get scarcer over time, the hydropower plants should be able to get some return from guaranteeing stability to the power system.

Q: How is Itaipu Binacional keeping its hydroelectric facility modern?

Portela: Itaipu Binacional continuously invests in state-of-the-art technology to improve the facility’s systems. The next step is the most comprehensive technological update of control and protection systems since the complex started operating 38 years ago. This $649 million project will replace all control and protection systems of the generating units, gas-insulated substation, right margin substation, plant auxiliary services, spillway and dam gates, and metering/billing system. However, because of the longer life cycle, there will be no replacement of the turbines, generators and transformers.  

This work was authorized in April 2022 and will begin next year, carried out by the Itaipu Modernization Consortium (CMI), the winner of the binational bidding, formed by Brazilian and Paraguayan companies.

At 14 GW, Itaipu is one of the largest hydropower facilities in the world.

Q: What is the main challenge for hydropower development around the world?

Portela: Undoubtedly, hydropower is the best option among renewable energy sources to guarantee large-scale power supply with sustainability, given its availability, reliability and affordability. That said, hydropower faces a reasonable number of challenges regarding the industry’s Zeitgeist. 

Therefore, the main challenge for hydroelectricity is to prove itself, politically, as the best option for this sustainable future. The hydro industry should improve communication to help governments and investors inform public opinion so people once again realize that the energy availability for the growth of a nation must come from renewable sources. But such sources need a secure basis, and hydroelectricity is the best option among the alternatives. 

Q: What is the most striking change you have witnessed for hydropower recently?

Portela: The growing use of big data and analytics in the processes improves situational awareness for operations and maintenance and other plant professionals. This paradigm change is not simple because it directly impacts workforce development and knowledge management.

Q: Could you identify key hydro markets and explain why they are attractive?

Portela: In my opinion, there are two.

One is small hydro. The development of small hydro technologies is fundamental to light up the last mile. Among these developments lies much of the potential to expand hydroelectric generation worldwide.

The other is repowering. According to studies by the Energy Research Company of Brazil (EPE), more than half of Brazil’s installed hydroelectric capacity needs to be repowered or updated by 2030. However, nowadays, these investments – at least in Brazil – are sporadic, which is surprising given the plants’ sizes and ages. Therefore, there is a need for broad technical and regulatory studies and debates on the potential benefits of these actions for increased installed capacity, efficiency, avoidance of degradation costs, and cost reductions for power system operation. 

Q: What single change would you like to see that could enhance to the role of modern hydropower?

Portela: I would like to see more articles in the specialized press explaining that hydropower is the best option among renewable energy sources to guarantee large-scale power supply with sustainability, given its availability, reliability and affordability. Hydropower and other renewable energy sources are supplementary, not redundant.

NOTE: ITAIPU clarifies that, by virtue of its bylaws, this message does not imply the assumption of obligations on its behalf.