Brazil expects Itaipu deal with Paraguay finalized by year’s end
Joaquim Silva e Luna, director of Itaipu Binacional on Brazil’s side, said Tuesday (Oct 29) he is “confident” that Brazil and Paraguay will reach an agreement on the purchase of energy from the hydroelectric power plant by Paraguay’s state-run National Electricity Administration (Ande), and Brazil’s Eletrobras.
“It is presumed that this matter be closed by November or early December. What matters is to have all of the energy produced and delivered under the contract,” said Silva e Luna at a public hearing of the Mines and Energy Commission at the Brazilian lower house.
The bilateral treaty previously signed on the electric energy produced by Itaipu from 2019 to 2022 was nullified after the conditions of the drafting sparked a political crisis in Paraguay.
High level
New technical talks are being held by Ande and Eletrobras and political negotiations by the ministries of Foreign Relations and Mines and Energy of both countries.
Silva e Luna noted that the last technical meeting took place on October 15. “The understating is not stagnant, it’s moving forward,” he pointed out.
Itaipu is the world’s biggest producer of clean and renewable energy and boasts 20 generation units and 14 thousand megawatts of installed power. In 2018, it accounted for the provision of 15 percent of all the energy consumed in Brazil and 90 percent of the energy consumed in Paraguay.
