Page 259 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

Hydropower Life-Cycle Inventories 249

rocks, steel, copper, etc. They were collected in collaboration with the plant
contractor. However, data on the life cycle of these inputs were obtained on
available LCA databases that do not always correspond to the construction reality.
This seems to be a limitation that studies of this class invariably have to face. On
lack of data, it is widely recommended to make conservative estimations based on
consultation of experts and other adequate and pertinent sources.

4 Case Study: Itaipu Hydropower LCI

4.1 The Brazilian Electricity Matrix

Due to its geographic and geologic conditions, hydroelectricity was strongly
emphasized in Brazil from the beginning of its social and industrial development.
The existence of large rivers, most of them running on uninhabited areas, led the
government to build some of the biggest electricity generation structures in the
world. This prevalence is evidenced by the majority of hydropower installed
capacity, in comparison with other electricity generation modals. Table 1 presents
the Brazilian electricity matrix in 2000, the reference year for the study.
Besides its prevalence over other generation options, Brazilian hydropower
plants have in their size another important characteristic. According to records of
the Brazilian National Agency for Electricity (ANEEL) (ANEEL 2001), in 2001
the country possessed 130 hydropower plants with more than 30 MW. From this
group, exactly twenty-four units counted with 1.0 GW or more of installed power.
Among them, the Itaipu Power Plant is the biggest one, with 12.6 GW. Its
expressive capability in terms of installed power makes Itaipu nowadays the
largest power plant in the world.
In terms of energy production, Itaipu achieved 93.4 GWh in 2000. It is
equivalent to burn 434,000 barrels of petroleum per day in a thermoelectric plant
and amounted to 23.8 % of the total electricity consumption in Brazil in the same
period, or approximately one-third of actual USA hydro-power generation (Itaipu
Binacional 2009). The case study of Itaipu power plant was developed as a
research project, which aimed to generate a first approximation of Brazilian LCA
electricity database. In spite of having a large reservoir Itaipu shows a high effi-
ciency in terms of material and energy use per energy unit produced, due to its

Table 1 Brazilian electricity Matrix 2000 [adapted from ANEEL (2001)]
Electricity generation modals Number of power plants Installed power (kW) % of the total
Hydropower 134 62,063,752 81.7
Thermal 614 11,006,848 14.5
Wind 7 21,200 0.03
Nuclear 2 1,966,000 2.6
Small hydro 313 861,271 1.1
Total 1,070 75, 919,071