Bahia has a territory of
564,692 km², being the fifth largest state in Brazil. And it is here where
Neoenergia works with the Luz Para Todos program, aimed at promoting the
universalization of electric energy in the rural area together with the Federal
Government. The state of Bahia is where the program reached the highest number
of new connections among all Brazilian states, with 664 thousand homes served
since its implementation in 2004, up to September 2020, benefiting 2.4 million
people. The data show the dimension of activities in the municipalities of
Bahia. In October alone, 200 works in progress were reported, representing the
installation of 11,000 poles and 1,600 newly-powered houses.
“For all of this to happen,
it takes a lot of planning and strategy definition. After all, in a state with
such a large dimension and plural characteristics, the emergence of challenges
is naturally expected. They include access to localities, often located more
than 200 km from the municipality's seat, as well as climatic conditions, which
may vary according to the period of the year”, says the supervisor of the Luz
Para Todos Management Unit at Neoenergia, Mayline Pinto.
Not only the distance, but
also the conditions of the roads interfere in the progress of works, as many of
them are made of dirt or sand, posing difficulties to the arrival of heavy
vehicles, such as trucks used to transport the poles to be installed in the
villages. Solutions to these conditions include the use of chains in tires or
emptying tires, a strategy that facilitates the traffic of vehicles on sandy
roads, for example.
Other situation found by
the teams is places where there is no type access to vehicles. In this case, it
is necessary to open the road to proceed, but this is not always possible. In
view of that, the teams need to use a fiber post, which weighs about 200kg,
much lighter than the concrete posts, for which the weight can be as high as a
thousand kilos. Thus, the truck transports the poles to the nearest location
and, from there, workers load the equipment to where it will be installed,
including digging. The solution with the use of fiber posts is more common in
the southern region of Bahia, where there is a large presence of the Atlantic
Forest.
It is also in the South
region that the works are more subject to climatic conditions, since rain
prevails in most part of the year. As the access to the works is made by an
unpaved road, in the event of rain, the trucks can get stuck, staying on the
road until they are towed or when access is possible. It is also common to have
regions where it is necessary to make the transport by ferry to cross the
river.
In the North and West
regions, among the main factors are the conditions of the land, which are
usually composed of rock or sand. For regions with sand, the challenge is to
fix the post, as the terrain breaks more easily. To solve the situation,
concrete bases are placed on the ground before installation. Another report is
in the presence of bridges built by the residents, structures that do not
support much weight and, therefore, require increased attention when
transporting the poles.
“Each step of this requires
research and design. Therefore, the teams carry out a detailed study on the
specifications of the terrain, identify the environmental restrictions and
accessibility. Then, they prepare the planning, in which the work execution
schedule is determined”, says the supervisor. The activities begin at this
point, including the recognition of communities, the definition of network
points, the digging of the land, transport and deployment of posts,
installation of conductors and transformers, to the connection at the
customer's home, which culminates with the powering of the work.
“The satisfaction of seeing
the energy reach these places is immense, mainly because we know the positive
impact it has on everyone's life”, adds Mayline. The works cover over 415 cities
in Bahia and the goal is to power the entire state by 2021, consolidating
universalization in Bahia.