ONS raises rainfall forecast and expects high in reservoirs for December

The bulletin of the National Electric System Operator (ONS), released this Friday (17), forecasts, for December, a volume of rainfall above the historical average in the Southeast/Midwest subsystem, which is responsible for about 70% of energy generation in Brazil.

With that, the expectation is that the region’s reservoirs will reach 24.7% of the total capacity by the end of the month. In the worst water moment in the country, registered in September this year, hydroelectric plants in the Southeast/Midwest reached a volume of only 16%, which represented the worst water crisis in the last 91 years.

According to the ONS report, the Southeast/Midwest subsystem should record rainfall higher than the historical average for the region, due to the ‘formation of a humidity corridor, which should bring rain during the penultimate week of the year’.

The National Operator’s forecasts also indicate a large volume of rainfall in the Northeast, North and South of the country, despite not registering levels above the historical average.

Thus, the three subsystems in Brazil should increase the levels of their reservoirs by the end of December. In the Northeast, the reservoirs will operate at 49.3% of capacity.

In the South, the expectation is to end the year at 37.2%. In the Southeast/Midwest, at 24.7% of capacity. Only in the North is a retreat expected, with a capacity of 44.5% of the region’s reservoirs.

The large volume of rain should also influence the country’s energy demand in the coming weeks, as the mild temperature reduces the use of electronic devices, such as air conditioning. Therefore, the National Interconnected System (SIN), which covers energy consumption in all regions of the country, shows that the need for electricity in December should be only 0.1% higher compared to the same month last year .