Eletrobras Furnas is a regional power utility and a major subsidiary of Eletrobras

Eletrobrás

Eletrobras is a major Brazilian power utility. It's also Latin America's biggest power utility company, tenth largest in the world and is also the fourth largest clean energy company in the world. It is currently expanding its operations in the continent, as well as in Africa. The company's full...

. The company generates or transmits electricity to 51% of households in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 and more than 40% of the nation's electricity passes through their grid. The company has a generating capacity of 10,050 MW which corresponds to 10% of Brazil's electrical production.

Overview

The company was founded on February 28, 1957, to support the fast-pace of urbanization in Brazil during the 1950s

1950s

The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...

. Their aim was to develop the Grande River

Grande River

The Grande River is river in south-central Brazil. It rises in the Mantiqueira Mountains in the state of Minas Gerais and descends inland, west-northwestward. Its lower course marks a portion of the Minas Gerais-São Paulo border...

 and completed the Furnas Dam in February of 1957. Their effective operation began in 1963 and in 1971, their headquarters moved to Rio de Janeiro. The company owns and maintains 12 hydroelectric power plants, two thermal power plants and 49 substations

Electrical substation

A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions...

. Out of their 10,050 MW installed capacity, 7,971 is owned by them and the rest through partnerships. The company also maintains 19,000 km of transmission lines, 900 km of which are from the Itaipu Dam. They supply 97% of the electricity in Brasília, 92% in Rio de Janeiro, 91% in Mato Grosso, 81% in the Espírito Santo, 61% in Goiás, 58% in São Paulo, Minas Gerais 45% and 16% in Tocantins.

Power plants

The hydroelectric power plants that the company owns and operates are the Baguari (140 MW), Corumbá (375 MW), Funil (216 MW), Furnas (1,216 MW), Itumbiara

Itumbiara

Itumbiara is a small city and municipality in the extreme south of the state of Goiás, Brazil. The population was 100,000 in a total area of 2,461,3 km²...

 (2,082 MW), Luiz Carlos Barreto

Luiz Barreto Dam

The Luiz Carlos Barreto de Carvalho Dam, formerly known as Estreito, is an embankment dam on the Grande River near Fronteira in São Paulo, Brazil. The dam serves an associated hydroelectric power plant with a 1,050 MW installed capacity.-Background:...

 (1,050 MW), Manso (212 MW), Marimbondo

Marimbondo Dam

The Marimbondo Dam is an embankment dam on the Grande River near Fronteira in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The dam serves an associated hydroelectric power plant with a 1,440 MW installed capacity.-Background:...

 (1,440 MW) Mascarenhas de Moraes (Peixoto) (476 MW), Peixe Angical (452 MW), Porto Colômbia (320 MW) and Serra da Mesa

Serra da Mesa Dam

The Serra da Mesa Dam, once known as Sao Felix, is an embankment dam on the Tocantins River near Minaçu in Goiás, Brazil. The dam serves an associated hydroelectric power plant with a 1,275 MW installed capacity...

(1,275 MW) which is operated in a public partnership. They also own and manage the Campos (30 MW) and Santa Cruz (766 MW) thermal power plants.