Amazon power plants face imminent shutdown

Brazil Biofuels (BBF), the largest palm oil producer in Latin America, is on the verge of abandoning several power plants in the Amazon due to a lack of fuel supplies.

BBF owns 25 plants that run on diesel and biofuel in the states of Acre, Amazonas, Rondônia, and Roraima. However, BBF is financially crippled and lacks the funds to replenish the minimum stocks of its plants, which are on the verge of collapse and could be shut down within the next two weeks.

The Brazilian Report gained access to details of inventory levels at each of the company’s plants. BBF operates in what are known as “isolated systems,” supplying energy to regions of Brazil that are not yet connected to the national grid and rely entirely on these local plants.

The most critical scenario today is in Acre, where BBF has four plants that run on diesel and biofuel. Two of them, the Porto Walter and Marechal Thaumaturgo plants, are operating with less than 30 percent capacity in their fuel tanks.

According to the company, these plants are scheduled to experience a “dry shutdown” by April 14 and 20, respectively. As the term implies, a dry shutdown is a complete stoppage due to lack of fuel.

The amount of fuel needed to run the plants is immense. In these two plants in Acre alone, BBF would need to receive no less than 3 million liters of fuel immediately to ensure autonomy of operation until December. At the moment, however, not a single liter of fuel is on its way to these two locations, due to the company’s lack of resources. In Acre, the communities served by the company have a total population of 44,800.

The red alert has also reached the plants in the neighboring state of Amazonas.

The Ipixuna plant, located in the municipality of the same name, is operating at 16...