The Brazilian government is considering creating a new state-owned company to take over Eletrobras's stake in the Angra nuclear power plant and in the Itaipu binational hydropower plant, paving the way for a privatisation of the 51%-owned power utility. The Ministry of Mines and Energy aims to direct BRL4bn (US$780m) from the 2021 budget for the new company. The privatisation of nuclear power plants is forbidden by the Brazilian Constitution, and that of the Itaipu hydropower plant by a binational agreement with Paraguay. Consequently, those power assets would have to be spun off from Eletrobras before any privatisation.
Eletrobras, which is the largest power utility in Brazil, owns 210 companies, including 8 mains subsidiaries, 173 joint ventures and stakes in 29 companies. The group has a production capacity of 51.1 GW, which represents 30% of the country's capacity (2019) including a 50% stake in Itaipu Binacional, the operator of the Itaipu hydropower plant (14 GW) and 50% of Norte Energia (NESA), the company responsible for the construction of the Belo Monte Dam (11.2 GW). The company also manages about half of the transport network with 71,000 km of transmission lines.
In April 2020, the Brazilian government postponed the privatisation of Eletrobras from October 2020 to the second quarter of 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Brazil initially expected to privatise around BRL150bn (US$29bn) in assets during 2020 focusing on energy assets from Eletrobras, with the objective to reduce the numbers of companies held by the government from 624 (at end-2019) to 300 by end-2020.
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