Brazil Likely To Reinstate Daylight Saving Time As Drought Cuts Hydropower

• Brazilian authorities are likely to reinstate daylight saving time after five years of abolishment, as the country faces a major drought, affecting its power generation efforts. Daylight saving time refers to advancing clocks to make better use of the longer daylight available during summer so that darkness falls at a later clock time.
• The prolonged drought shifted toward using more expensive thermoelectric plants and energy imports, which is boosting power bills. Despite the growth of wind and solar power in Latin America's largest economy in recent years, more than half of Brazil's power supply still comes from hydroelectric plants.
• The drought has affected some of the country's largest hydroelectric plants, including two powered by an Amazonian river. Reservoir levels in the key Southeast/Center-West region, Brazil's main hydroelectric area, are expected to end September below 50%, as the region also gets less than 50% of the average rainfall for this time of year.
• Former President Jair Bolsonaro abolished daylight saving time after he took office in 2019, on grounds that it was no longer benefiting the country's power sector. By moving the clocks forward an hour between November and February, Brazil’s summertime aimed to make use of more daylight hours and save energy.
• However, officials now believe that reinstating it could help alleviate pressure on the power system in late afternoons, when consumption is at its peak but solar power stations stop generating electricity as the sun sets.
• Some sectors have cheered the possibility while others would likely be negatively impacted. Bars and restaurants backed the move, with local association Abrasel saying the extra hour of daylight would help increase the number of clients at 6-8 p.m. and could drive monthly revenues up 10% to 15%. Moving clocks forward by one hour, however, would affect flight schedules, forcing airlines to adjust the departure and arrival times of their flights and connections while facing additional costs to relocate crews.

(Source: Reuters)