The
Decree nº 3.349, signed by the Republic President Campos Salles, granted
the authorization for the British company The São Paulo Railway,
Light and Power Company Limited to operate in Brazil.
Engineer H.L.Cooper found out that 33 kilometers from the city capital, in
the town of Parnaíba, there was at Cachoeira do Inferno a waterfall
with 12 meters that would enable the construction of an hydroelectric power
plant. The Parnaíba Power Plant started operations its 1901. Seven
hundred and fifty workers and 70 wagons, pulled by 100 donkeys and 400 oxen
were used for this construction. In this manner the first hydroelectric power
plant owned by Light in Brazil and the largest Brazilian power plant
of that time, was born. The production capacity of this power plant was increased
in 1912 in order to uphold the level of energy supply. During that same year,
a steam thermoelectric power station started its operation, at Paula Souza
Street, in São Paulo.
Because of the large amount of water consumption demanded the Parnaíba
Power Plant Turbines, Light needed to regulate Tietê river's
flow rate. The solution found was to implement a dam in one of the affluents
of the Pinheiros river, the Guarapiranga river, known as Embu-Guaçu.
Thus, the Guarapiranga reservoir was constructed during 1906. Between
the years 1924 and 1925, a very long drought decreased the flow rate of the
rivers. The City of São Paulo was, at that time, the stage of a fast
industrial growth and, as a consequence, of the growth in the demand for electricity.
The situation staged in 1924 was the cause of approximately 30% decrease of
electric energy supply. Also during that same year two more units were installed
at the Paula Souza Power Plant, increasing its capacity. Another alternative
was the construction of the Rasgão Hydroelectric Power Plant, between
Pirapora and Cabreúva municipalities, which started its operation during
1925.