Brazil considers daylight savings time return

The Brazilian mines and energy ministry requested that grid operator ONS evaluate reestablishing daylight savings time.

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro ended daylight savings time in 2019. The policy had existed since 1931 and previous president Michel Temer had also considered terminating it.

At the time, government technical experts assessed that turning clocks back by an hour during the summer did little to save electricity based on the power demand curve during the day.

But the expansion of distributed generation into the power matrix is changing the power demand curve, making daylight savings time relevant again, a source at the government told Argus.

Brazil faces a dilemma in its power grid expansion. The country has a large potential for wind and solar power generation, but these sources are interruptible and cannot be fully controlled. Therefore, power sector authorities must find ways to meet peak demand.

According to a government source, the preliminary study by ONS shows that bringing back daylight savings time could help the operator meet power peak demand in the interconnected power system this year.

ONS told Argus the Ministry requested a study about the return of the daylight savings time due to the shifting of the maximum power demand caused by the increase in the solar power generation. The outlook for meeting power demand in 2022 is "much more favourable" than in the previous two years, ONS said, and that there is no problem meeting domestic power demand.

Bolsonaro's decision to end daylight savings time in the beginning of his mandate pleased his supporters. But polls at that time showed that Brazil's poorer population did not appreciate the policy, since it meant that it was still dark when they left their homes to work in the morning. Also, some people felt more exposed to theft by being in the streets in a dark morning.

Mines and energy minister Adolfo Sachsida is not opposed to the daylight savings time and wants to evaluate whether resuming the policy can help the country meet power demand, according to the source.

But Bolsonaro would have to issue a decree to reestablish the policy, which could be unpopular with the population that supported his decision in 2019. Presidential elections in Brazil will be held in October and Bolsonaro is trailing in the polls to former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In the past, daylight savings time started every third Sunday of October.

By Flavia Pierry