State Grid Brazil Holding (SGBH), part of the State Grid Corporation of China group, has already built 16,300 km of transmission lines in Brazil, with the one that runs from Belo Monte, in Pará, to Paracambi, in Rio de Janeiro, being the largest in Latin America, with more than 3,000 km. The company's new investment, a project won at an auction by the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) in December 2023, with a bid of R$ 1,936,529,074.68, will be a new transmission line that will run from Maranhão to Goiás, totaling an investment of R$ 18 billion by 2030.
These transmission lines pass through 13 states in the country and are equivalent to 10% of the entire Brazilian electrical grid, which makes the company one of the largest in the sector in the country. These are the largest transmission lines in the world that use ± 800 kV UATCC technology. This structure is capable of transmitting up to 40 thousand megawatts, but today the company is working with between 20 and 30 thousand megawatts.
State Grid Brazil Holding operates in the transmission of electricity and has approximately 1,000 employees in Brazil, 60 of whom are Chinese, and 25 concessionaires. State Grid Corporation of China holds 1,00% of State Grid Brazil Holding and other companies in Brazil in the form of partnerships, such as CPFL, which operates in the distribution and transmission of electricity, and other publicly traded companies that have other partners. Eletrobras is a partner of SGCC in Belo Monte Transmissora de Energia (BMTE).
According to its management, the company is “committed to high standards of safety and respect for the environment, and is a signatory to the United Nations (UN) Global Compact.” Its organizational structure includes Chairman Sun Tao, CEO Sun Peng, and Vice Presidents Ramon Haddad, Jorge Bauer, and Wang Yusheng.
During a visit to the company on October 18, for a group of journalists from dozens of countries participating in the China-Latin America and the Caribbean Media Cooperation Forum 2024, Chen Changwei, Director of Operation and Maintenance (O&M), and Rafael Pinto, Operations Manager at State Grid Brazil Holding, explained that the monitoring of transmission lines operates 24 hours a day at the company's headquarters, located in downtown Rio de Janeiro, and did not stop even during the darkest moments of the pandemic.
“During the most intense phase of the blackout, we organized a rotation of essential people who were accommodated in a room here in the SGBH building for several days while other engineers and technicians worked from home. At that time, we even had frozen food stocked to avoid contact with delivery people,” said Rafael.
Chen Changwei said that monitoring identifies common problems along the transmission lines, such as fires, storms and lightning, and when this happens, the company immediately notifies the National Electric System Operator (ONS), and company employees go to the location to resolve obstacles that may momentarily interrupt transmission. The speed of the solution is supported by a structure of seven regional offices and 30 maintenance bases spread across the country.
Philipe Dias, Corporate Culture and Communications Manager, said that the company also invests in several social projects, such as the Hospital do Amor (formerly the Cancer Hospital) in the city of Barretos (SP), where it performs thousands of treatments and procedures through the Unified Health System (SUS), in the recovery of Cais do Valongo (RJ), in partnership with the North American Consulate, inaugurated last October, and in the Orquestra Maré do Amanhã (RJ).
This last project, which teaches classical music to children and teenagers from one of the most violent favela communities and is directed by Carlos Eduardo Prazeres, participated in an event in Beijing to commemorate 50 years of Brazil-China friendship.
In a speech on October 16 at the opening of the China-Latin America Media Cooperation Forum, hosted by People's Daily and Monitor Mercantil, Sun Tao, chairman of SGBH, said that “over more than a decade, State Grid Brazil Holding has been recognized twice as the 'Best Energy Company in Brazil', created 45,000 local jobs and contributed about R$4.5 billion in taxes.”
“We have become Brazil’s second largest transmission company and one of its most respected companies. By implementing major concession projects such as Phase I and II of the Belo Monte UATCC, we have actively promoted cooperation and exchanges between China and Brazil in transmission technology, equipment and standards. This has boosted the development of Brazil’s local power, electrical equipment and raw material industries, achieving mutual benefits and win-win cooperation between China and Brazil,” Sun Tao said.
SGBH signals that it is focused on a long-term development strategy. “We move forward with specialized and collaborative teams, cutting-edge technology and the best management and governance practices.”
Andrea Penna, special for Monitor
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