The Brazilian power sector has accumulated extensive experience in expansion planning. The expansion of the Brazilian system has been planned on the basis of a number of different studies since 1978:
Long term Studies: conducted every five to six years, these have a time span of 30 years, which attempt to analyse and predict the future makeup of generating facilities and the main trunk lines and transmission systems. A programme is then established for technological and industrial development and an inventory of the hydrographic basin.
Medium term Studies: these studies are conducted every two to three years and have a time horizon of 15 years. These studies estimated the financial resources for investment in generating plant, transmission systems and substations.
Short term studies: prepared annually these studies have a ten year time horizon. They present the decisions made on generation and transmission expansion, defining projects and scheduling projects. An overall programme for investment in generation, transmission and distribution is established and modified every year, in the form of the Ten-Year Plan. The Plan makes predictions based on a number of basic assumptions; macroeconomic, demographic and residential distribution, as well as industrial prospects including self-production and co-generation and energy conservation.
