Brazilian official: no blackouts during World Cup

 　　RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Head of Brazil's National Electricity Agency (Aneel) Nelson Hubner said on Tuesday that there will be no blackouts during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which will take place in the country.

　　Hubner, who is in charge of regulating the power distribution network in the country, said in a statement denying a story ran by daily Folha de Sao Paulo on its Tuesday edition.

　　According to the daily, there is a real risk of power shortage in most of the Cup's host cities during the competition. Folha based its story in a report presented by Aneel itself, just last month.

　　The report warns that in all but two host cities, the renovations and expansions which are being made in the distribution network for the Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games are behind schedule. In Brazil's capital city Brasilia, which will also be a host city in the FIFA Confederations Cup in June, over 90 percent of the projects are behind schedule.

　　The renovation¹ and expansion projects are being carried out by several companies which hold the concessions² to explore the energy distribution in each state.

　　In the document, Aneel recommends that the projects must be hurried to get ready in time for the tournament, and that alternative solutions should be presented to deal with worst case scenarios³.

　　Hubner, however, said that Aneel is monitoring the projects and will work for their completion in time.

　　"Many of those projects are secondary. We are checking them out and alerting the companies so that we can get everything on schedule for the Cup," he said.

　　The possibility of blackouts or energy rationing⁴ in Brazil in the upcoming months has been much discussed in the local press over the past weeks. Most of the energy used in Brazil comes from hydroelectric power plants, which makes the country dependant⁵ on rain to fill up the dam reservoirs.

　　The reservoirs' water level is currently below the average for the season, which was cause of alarm, especially because there were several blackouts in large cities in the last two months of 2012. In order to compensate⁶ the reservoirs' lower level, the government ordered that the thermal⁷ power plants, which work on natural gas, were turned on.

　　The Brazilian government denies the risk of blackout and power rationing, as it happened in the early 2000s. According to the authorities, the network has been expanded in the past decade and, unlike in the past, Brazil now has thermal power plants which can help compensate an eventual⁸ low output from the hydroelectric plants.

1 renovation   

n.革新，整修

参考例句：

• The cinema will reopen next week after the renovation.电影院修缮后，将于下星期开业。
• The building has undergone major renovation.这座大楼已进行大整修。

2 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

3 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 rationing   

n.定量供应

参考例句：

• Wartime austerities included food rationing and shortage of fuel. 战时的艰苦包括食物配给和燃料短缺。
• Food rationing was abolished in that country long ago. 那个国家早就取消了粮食配给制。

5 dependant   

n.依靠的，依赖的，依赖他人生活者

参考例句：

• The dependent dependant cannot live independently.依靠别人的被赡养者不能独立生活。
• The fact that the woman is still regarded as the man's dependant.再加上女人仍被看作是男人的附属品这一事实。

6 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

7 thermal   

adj.热的，由热造成的；保暖的

参考例句：

• They will build another thermal power station.他们要另外建一座热能发电站。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

8 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。