The Brazilian electrical sector is being privatized with the objectives of guaranteeing funds for the construction of new power plants, reducing the risks of energy deficits, eliminating wastes of the present generating units and increasing its productivity. To evaluate the performance of existing hydroelectric power plants the technical efficiency of Brazilian hydroelectric power plants was determined using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The analysis included 71 hydroelectric power plants, all with more than 50 MW capacity. The efficiency scores were analyzed according to the following criteria: type of ownership - private or public (state or federal government); company; location - river basin; and the three inputs used in the analysis: size, in relation to generating capacity; water level difference; and manpower. Public plants were more efficient than private ones. Cesp (state government company) had the best performance and Light (private company) had the worst one. According to generating capacity, intermediate size plants were the most efficient and according to river basin, those of the Paraná river were the most efficient.
power plants; hydroelectric; efficiency; DEA
