PARAGUAY: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

The Itaipu power plant is one of the seven wonders of the modern world. It produces 14 Megawatts of power (for comparitive purposes, that is four times as much as America’s largest coal power plant, Plant Scherer). In terms of power, the energy this monster dam creates every day is equivalent to 433,000 barrels of oil. Except, this is not oil. It is green, renewable energy. The total estimated hydropower potential of the River Pirana and its upstream tributaries is 40,000 megawatts. Wow! Paraguay is already the world’s largest exporter of hydroelectric power, but most of it is sold to Brazil at a fraction of market value as a result of cosy agreements made in the 1970s. The new government is determined to change this. This will be interesting to watch.