Eletrobras Furnas (Furnas – Centrais Elétricas SA) is a regional power utility and a major subsidiary of

Eletrobras Eletrobras (, full name: Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A.) is a major Brazilian electric utilities company. The company's headquarters are located in Rio de Janeiro. It is Latin America's biggest power utility company, tenth largest in the wo ...

. The company generates or transmits electricity to 51% of households in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and more than 40% of the nation's electricity passes through their grid. The company has a generating capacity of 10,050 MW which corresponds to 10% of Brazil's electrical production.

Overview

The company was founded on February 28, 1957, to support the fast-pace of urbanization in Brazil during the 1950s. Their aim was to develop the Grande River. They began construction of the

Furnas Dam The Furnas Dam ( pt, Usina Hidrelétrica de Furnas) is a hydroelectric dam in the Minas Gerais state of Brazil. A small settlement was built near the dam with the same name to house the workers during the dam construction. The main purpose of the ...

in February 1957. Their effective operation began in 1963 and in 1971, their headquarters moved to Rio de Janeiro. The company owns and maintains 12 hydroelectric

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an el ...

s, two

thermal power plant A thermal power station is a type of power station in which heat energy is converted to electrical energy. In a steam-generating cycle heat is used to boil water in a large pressure vessel to produce high-pressure steam, which drives a steam ...

s and 49 substations. Out of their 10,050 MW installed capacity, 7,971 is owned by them and the rest through partnerships. The company also maintains 19,000 km of transmission lines, 900 km of which are from the

Itaipu Dam The Itaipu Dam ( pt, Barragem de Itaipu , es, Represa de Itaipú ) is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The construction of the dam was first contested by Argentina, but the negotiations ...

. They supply 97% of the electricity in Brasília, 92% in Rio de Janeiro, 91% in Mato Grosso, 81% in the Espírito Santo, 61% in Goiás, 58% in São Paulo, Minas Gerais 45% and 16% in Tocantins.

Power plants

The hydroelectric power plants that the company owns and operates are the Baguari (140 MW), Corumbá (375 MW), Funil (216 MW),

Furnas Furnas is a civil parish in the municipality of Povoação on the island of São Miguel in the Portuguese Azores. The population in 2011 was 1,439, in an area of 34.43 km2. The parish is one of the largest in the island and in the Azores. ...

(1,216 MW),

Itumbiara Itumbiara is a municipality in the extreme south of the state of Goiás, Brazil. Its population in 2020 was of 105,809 in a total area of 2,461,3 km2 (2020). Itumbiara is one of the most prosperous cities in Goiás and is a major producer ...

(2,082 MW),

Luiz Carlos Barreto Luiz Carlos Barreto (born 20 May 1928) is a Brazilian film producer and screenwriter. He has produced 50 films since 1962. He produced the 1966 film '' The Priest and the Girl'', which was entered into the 16th Berlin International Film Festiv ...

(1,050 MW), Manso (212 MW), Marimbondo (1,440 MW)

Mascarenhas de Moraes Mascarenhas may refer to: *Mascarenhas (surname), people named Mascarenhas *Mascarenhas (footballer), Domingos António da Silva (1937–2015), Angolan footballer *Mascarenhas, a civil parish of Mirandela, Portugal *Mascarenhas Islands The Masc ...

(Peixoto) (476 MW), Peixe Angical (452 MW), Porto Colômbia (320 MW) and Serra da Mesa (1,275 MW) which is operated in a public partnership. They also own and manage the Campos (30 MW) and Santa Cruz (766 MW) thermal power plants.

References

{{Portal, Brazil, Energy Eletrobras Companies based in Rio de Janeiro (city) Energy companies established in 1957 1957 establishments in Brazil