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One of the main tourist destinations in Bahia, Morro de São Paulo, will soon have part of the power supply carried out by underground electricity grid. In all, about R$ 20 million is being invested to embed cables and electrical equipment, in a pipeline between the stretch of the pier to the lookout point of the first beach.

The new electricity grid will have an extension of 1.6 kilometers of medium and low voltage network and will have nine transformers of 500 kilo-voltamperes (KVA), which will provide greater reliability to the distribution of energy, further valuing the local landscape, which will no longer have spinning in the air network. They will be excavations and reconfiguration of the network, which are divided into three stages. The division is necessary to meet the local dynamics and prevent, in high season periods, there is excavation in a stretch of great movement of tourists.

"We have a schedule that will be carried out in three stages, so that we have the least possible impact on the routine of the island's business and enterprises. We know that Morro de São Paulo has tourism as one of the main economic activities, so it is important to preserve roads and ensure the flow of people", says the superintendent of The South Region, Neoenergia Coelba, Jean Viana.

The drilling work in the stretch in which the electrical network will pass was mapped with a georeferencing equipment, which performs an x-ray of the soil and identifies possible interferences of water and gas pipes. Thus, it will be possible to trace the path that the wires must take without affecting the structures of the essential services. Some kind of guided drilling.

Historical heritage

Home to a fort listed by the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (Iphan), Morro de São Paulo requires the accompaniment of archaeologists in any intervention made in the village. Therefore, the work carried out by Neoenergia Coelba is being accompanied by professionals, in order to ensure that artifacts found during excavations are properly collected, registered and passed on to Iphan for cataloguing and collection. 

Morro de São Paulo received more structuring works

Neoenergia Coelba has intensified the delivery of structuring works to Morro de São Paulo. This year, the region's electricity system received a new medium voltage circuit that is in a substation near the island, and represented an investment of R$ 9.3 million. With the new structure, 46 kilometers of electricity grid and five automation equipment were installed. 

The region also had the expansion of the automated electricity grid, with the implementation of self-healing technology – an automation system for power distribution that allows the resumption of power supply in an interrupted area with a maximum of 15 seconds. There are already five schemes installed and about 50 kilometers of automated electricity network, serving the entire island. 

"We have invested consistently in the modernization and expansion of the electricity system throughout Bahia, and this has resulted in deliveries of structuring works, also in Morro de São Paulo. About R$ 41 million was invested in the last year in the region. The new underground electricity grid will bring greater reliability in the energy supply, besides contributing to an appreciation of the natural beauty of the Island, which will no longer have the visual impact of air wiring", concludes Luiz Antonio Ciarlini, CEO of Neoenergia Coelba.