After years of criticism, the government of Brazil announced in January that it will end the era of building big hydropower dams in the Amazon.

In an article in the O Globo newspaper, Paulo Pedrosa, Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, said that the government has no prejudice against big hydro but that the costs and risks now outweigh the benefits.

In a press release about the news, the Inter-American Clean Energy Institute said that for years, mega-dams in the Amazon have drawn opposition from Indigenous peoples, energy and economic experts, social and environmental organizations, and citizens in Brazil, and globally.

In particular, campaigns against the Belo Monte and São Luiz do Tapajós mega-dams mobilized a broad coalition of Indigenous communities and civil society organizations, who urged the Brazilian government to develop the country’s wind and solar resources and invest in energy efficiency instead of funding mega-dams in the Amazon.

Paulo Pedrosa, Brazil’s Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, acknowledged the impact of this societal resistance, as well as the high costs and risks of mega-dams, in statements to O Globo.

The InterAmerican Clean Energy Institute said that Brazil’s world-class wind and solar resources, the falling costs of wind and solar technologies, and advances in integrating renewable energy make a compelling economic case for a transition away from new mega-dams and toward other sources of energy.

Source: renewableenergyworld.com