The Brazilian Electricity Market: Small Hydropower Strategic Planning

This thesis provides relevant, data-based insights that allow from unexperienced students to seasoned hydropower investors to think through business strategies in the Brazilian Electricity Generation Market. For easier understanding, this book is organized in the following three parts. Part I – The Brazilian Electricity Generation Market The first part provides an overview of the Brazilian Electricity Generation Market. Such overview includes insights on the current drought and its effects on the electricity supply and prices, as well as observations on the supply expansion plans and routes that the country has taken to follow economic and consumption growth. In the last section of this first part, the reader may find a few observations on investment behavior. This part also explains the basic functioning of the market, allowing any reader to have this book as a self-contained document – i.e. being able to fully understand its propositions from itself. Part II – Hydroelectric Generation The second part dives with some more depth on hydropower investments: the differentiation of large scale projects to Small Hydropower, capital requirements, generation cycle, value creation levers and risks and options of energy sale. Part III – Electricity Sales: A Portfolio decision The third and last part of the thesis explores sales options and compare them in terms of risk and portfolio management. The reader may find here demonstrations of how different portfolios have very different outcomes in terms of expected present value of generated revenues and standard deviation.