Luz para Todos (Light for All) Electrification Programme

The "Luz para Todos" ("Light for All") programme was launched in November 2003 to improve rural electrification through network expansion, distributed generating systems with isolated networks or individual plants, with renewable energies also used for generating electricity. The programme follows the "Luz para Campo" rural electrification programme and the PRODEEM programme, in which communal facilities were provided with electricity generating systems using renewable energy. The programme is coordinated by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, managed by Eletrobrás and implemented by the distribution companies under its control, and privatised and federal power supply companies with the participation of regional committees. The programmes overall ambition is to provide access to electricity to the 12 million people who live without it, 10 million of them being in rural areas. By the end of 2008, the goal is for a total of 1.7 million non-electrified households to have access to electricity. By November 2006, 4.6 million people were supplied with electricity for the first time. Approximately 72% of the programmes total funding comes from two sources, the Reserva Global de Reversão (RGR) and the Conta de Desenvolvimento Energético (CDE). The RGR is a fund providing loans, collected from the concession fees and fines paid by energy supply companies. The CDE is a fund providing subsidies, collected from a tariff paid by all electricity consumers. The remaining funding is generally divided equally between the federal states and municipalities (14%) and the power supply companies (14%). However, where initial electrification rates are very low, up to 90% of the supply companys total investment will be subsidised through national funds. Electricity consumers do not have to pay for any network expansions. In terms of renewable energy, it is estimated that the use of approximately 130,000 PV systems is the most economically efficient option for about 17,500 localities with small populations in the Amazon territory. A further 2,300 villages with about 110,000 buildings could be equipped with a mini-grid based on photovoltaics or biomass sources. In addition, 680 medium-sized communities could be supplied on the basis of hybrid systems, and 10 larger communities could be provided with power generation based on conventional diesel generators or hybrid systems. By the end of 2006, six applications for schemes using renewable energy were approved within the programme, all of them solar home systems (SHS), amounting to 3,071 installations.

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