What the Electricity Is For

Table of Contents   Introduction What the Electricity Is For Impacts on Environment and People Energy Inefficiency and Future Upstream Dams Sustainable Alternatives Project Finance and Cost Grave Omissions in the Environmental Impact Assessment Lack of Public Consultation Legal Challenges References Resources

The government claims that Belo Monte's cheap energy will power the houses of the poor across Brazil. The reality is that energy exported from Belo Monte would be consumed at the Carajás, Jurutí, and Alumar aluminum smelting mines in Pará and Maranhão before traveling through transmission lines to São Paulo and the Southeast. The state of Pará is Brazil's leading producer of bauxite, the raw material for the production of aluminum.

The electricity may be exported in large part to eight industrial mining and construction companies: Alcoa, ArcelorMittal, Camargo Corrêa, CSN, Gerdau, Samarco, Vale, and Votorantim. These companies consume 25% of all energy produced in Brazil but only reproduce half the energy they consume.

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