Marcia Wonghon
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Recife - Brazil does not face the risk of running short of electric power, either for industry or residential use, before 2010. This assurance was made by Maurício Tolmasquim, president of the Energy Research Enterprise in the Ministry of Mines and Energy.

At the headquarters of the São Francisco Hydroelectric Company (CHESF), in the northeastern capital of Recife, today (11), he presented the electricity sector's ten-year expansion plan, announced in Brasília last month by the federal government.. According to Tolmasquim, the country is currently in an untroubled situation when it comes to the security of energy supplies.

"Through 2010 all the energy necessary to meet the demands of the distributors has already been contracted from the power plants. This places the country in a comfortable position, since there is not even a minor threat of rationing," he declared.

Tolmasquim claims that the risk of an energy deficit in the next four years is less than 3%. He said that an auction will be held later this year to contract energy for 2011.

He added that the energy sector's ten-year expansion plan foresees investments on the order of US$ 18.9 billion in the country's energy systems through 2015.

Translation: David Silberstein