The Brazilian Experience with Hydrokinetic Turbines

In Brazil since the 80th several studies and pilot projects have been executed to use the kinetic energy in water flows to generate electricity for remote communities without access to the services of electricity utilities. These experiences resulted in several new techniques, concepts and products that gave birth to new research projects and proposals that revisited this form of conversion of such type of renewable energy. The first initiatives were developed to implement pico hydropower plants to attend remote communities, inaugurating the first generation of hydrokinetic turbines. With the maturation and consolidation of the technology, new concepts and implementation methods focused on the up scaling of the production were designed, as well as new strategies to popularize and make the technology and production available. Nowadays a trend is noticed to use the hydrokinetic technology not only for pico hydropower, but also for larger hydropower plants, aiming at the conversion of kinetic energy present in large rivers, tidal flows and ocean streams. This paper describes the evolution of the hydrokinetic technology and the initiatives undertaken to make it available for rural electrification in Brazil during the last two decades. It also proposes to discuss the trends of hydrokinetic conversion for on grid electricity generation and its integration into the electricity sector.