Clean energy can bring development to the Northeast – 06/29/2023 – Folha Seminars

The Northeast is responsible for 82.3% of all solar and wind energy produced in Brazil. Together, the states in the region have an installed capacity of almost 30 gigawatts (GW) of these types of energy, according to data from Aneel (National Electric Energy Agency). This number represents more than 15% of the electricity production capacity installed in the country.

In addition, 78% of the projects under construction in Brazil are located in the region, representing over 10 GW of potential clean energy production capacity.

The panorama of the Northeast region in the sector was discussed on Wednesday (28), in a seminar organized by Sheet on sustainable energy in Brazil. The event took place at the newspaper’s headquarters, in São Paulo, and was mediated by journalist Alexa Salomão.

According to Fátima Bezerra (PT), governor of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), the energy transition is the biggest challenge facing the current generation. According to her, the state in charge can play an important role in the process of changing the Brazilian matrix.

“Nature has gifted us with the best quality of wind resources in the world. I am proud to be governor of a leading state in the production of wind energy in Brazil. Rio Grande do Norte has already made its transition, because 95% of the electricity consumed come from clean sources”, she says.

José Aldemir Freire, director of planning at Banco do Nordeste, says that it is important to think about actions so that the region is not simply an exporter of production.

“The Northeast cannot only generate the cheap and green energy that will decarbonize the world and transmit to the Southeast to produce industrial and consumer goods, which have greater added value”, he says.

“It is also not interesting to export green hydrogen to Europe for them to produce their green industrial goods and sell them back to Brazil”, he adds.

According to him, an important pillar is to build an adequate strategy for financing these projects, which makes the installation of new enterprises possible and encourages the industrialization of the region.

“There is a need to build a green industrial park in the Northeast to take advantage of the energy we want to generate. It is important at some point to export, but it is fundamental to have this strategy of adding value to our green industry”, he says.

José Wanderley Marangon, secretary of research and development at Inel (National Institute of Clean Energy), also agrees with the need for development in the region to make better use of clean energy.

He says that production in wind farms and solar farms does not generate so many jobs, and that the scenario could change from the installation of industries in the region. For him, the government should provide incentives to promote this. Another path would be to seek partnerships with countries like China to strengthen the industry in the Northeast.

Rogerio Marchini Santos, financial director of the company Órigo, which operates in the area of ​​solar energy and has a large expansion project in the Northeast, says that, in addition to industrialization, investments can democratize access and encourage entrepreneurship among small producers.

“This is possible by building solar parks that will later be rented to small and medium-sized companies that start to produce their own energy in a clean way. In addition to having renewable energy, there are savings, as the amount spent is less than what would be paid to a distributor,” he says.

Another advantage, he says, is the need for little investment, as they are smaller projects. In addition, the environmental impact of these projects is minimal and the energy is used in the same region where it is generated, without the need for transmission.

The governor of Rio Grande do Norte stated that the state is already developing actions aimed at strengthening the sector as a whole, beyond exports.

“We have a project to install a green industry port, which will be the first in Latin America focused on offshore wind production [em alto mar], and for green hydrogen. We took a very important step with the environmental impact study, which has already defined the appropriate area for the installation.”

Banco do Nordeste, in turn, announced an investment of BRL 10 billion in infrastructure for the sustainable energy sector in 2023. In the last five years, the bank invested around BRL 19 billion in the wind area and close to BRL 12 billion in solar.

The seminar was organized by Sheet and was supported by Banco do Nordeste and Órigo Energia.