Building the common good in the heart of the jungle
Energy from water without dams and pipelines
Along the Rio dos Apiacás, in the heart of the Mato Grosso jungle in Brazil, Enel is completing a hydropower system that will provide clean energy to the Alta Floresta region.
We have designed three 'cascading' plants in which the water that powers the plant turbines upstream returns to the river and is then recovered and used by the one downstream without any need for dams and pipelines.
“The waters of the Rio dos Apiacás will produce clean energy to meet the increasing electricity need that has characterised the region for some time and advances at a pace of 4% per year”
We will use the water flow to generate energy and meet the increasing electricity need that has characterised the region - and a large portion of Brazil - for some time and is advancing at a pace of 4% per year.
Protecting the jungle and its ecosystem
Works in the areas of Cabeça de Boi, Fazenda and Salto do Apiacás have required the extraction of 70,000 m3 of rock - as much as the marble used for the Coliseum - and has brought workers, excavators, prefabricated housing, scaffolding, and so on to the jungle.
Respecting the local area means applying utmost sustainability to all activities. We have launched reforestation programmes, built a solar PV field to generate the energy required to power the worksites while reducing their environmental impact, organised teams working exclusively on the protection of plants and animals of the jungle around the area where we are building.
“Even before we started building the plants, we have set up a model of shared planning with the local population, aimed to protect biodiversity, to improve educational services, to develop the infrastructure and local agricultural entrepreneurship”
The golden rule: acting, together
Even before we started building the plants, we have set up a model of shared planning with the local population of the vast area around Apiacás.
“We have launched reforestation programmes, built a solar PV field to generate the energy required to power the worksites while reducing their environmental impact, organised teams working exclusively on the protection of plants and animals of the jungle around the area where we are building”
The region experienced a gold rush and deforestations in the 80s of last century. Following the invasion of the garimpeiros (miners), there were more than 100,000 inhabitants in the town of Alta Floresta, which underwent the construction of large infrastructure and the destruction of the jungle, all events that have opened an injury that still afflicts the communities in this areas.
Today, while technicians, specialists and workers are building the plants, we are carrying out initiatives aimed to protect biodiversity, to improve educational services, to develop the infrastructure and local agricultural entrepreneurship.
Our golden rule is: not just funding, but directly involving the local population. The projects, inspired by the Creating Shared Value model, are proposed by the local communities, with the aim of opening a new chapter in the history of the region, not only for energy issues.