Court suspends licensing of largest thermal plant in Brazil – 01/31/2024 – Environment

The project for the largest thermoelectric plant in Brazil, in Caçapava (SP), became the target of protests by residents, politicians and environmental organizations in the Vale do Paraíba region, who fear the impacts on air quality and water supply in the region.

This Thursday (31), the Federal Court of São Paulo suspended the licensing process for the plant, following a request from the Federal Public Ministry. The public hearing to evaluate the project was scheduled for this Thursday (1st) and was the target of protests from residents over the weekend.

“We know that people are worried about the possibility of installing a thermoelectric plant here in Caçapava. Me too!”, wrote Mayor Pétala Lacerda (Republicans) on Friday (26), announcing that she will go to Brasília in February to try to block the project.

With a power of 1,743.8 MW (megawatts) and powered by natural gas, the São Paulo Thermoelectric Plant was announced in 2022 by the company Natural Energia, under the argument that Brazil needs firm energy sources to complement its renewable matrix.

It is the largest project of its kind under licensing or construction in Brazil — the second largest is located at Porto do Açu, on the north coast of Rio, with 1,672 MW of power. It is expected to start operations in 2028, but still depends on government auctions to purchase energy.

The environmental impact study presented to Ibama (Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) predicts the emission of up to 5.8 million tons of CO_two per year, equivalent to almost a third of the total emitted by the city of São Paulo in 2022, according to an estimate from the Climate Observatory.

Environmental associations also warn about the high use of water in a region that already lives under water stress. The project envisages collection from a nearby stream and the Caçapava aquifer, through wells.

“It is a basin that is already experiencing water stress and is important for guaranteeing water supply to the metropolitan region of São Paulo”, says Juliano Araújo, president of the Arayara International Institute.

On Saturday (27), the Paraíba do Sul River Basin Committee published a statement expressing concern about the project. “The committee wants to make it clear that it recognizes the considerable risks to water security and water quality in our basin,” he wrote.

The demonstrations against the project are also a reminder of the commitments made by Brazil to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The country has been presenting itself as a leader in the energy transition process, which has become one of the themes of the PT government’s new industrialization policy.

“We are in a valley, there is no way to have a thermoelectric plant of this size in the city. Caçapava doesn’t want that”, says councilor Dandara Gissoni (PSD), who was at COP28, in Dubai, to seek support against the project.

In 2022, Caçapava passed a law prohibiting the installation of this type of project. The MPF claimed that, as a result, the company lost its land use and occupation certificate and, therefore, the licensing process is irregular.

In November 2023, Natural Energia obtained an injunction removing the restriction on “production of electrical energy by thermoelectric plants” from the municipal law and, in December, Ibama scheduled a public hearing to debate the project in the municipality.

In its statement to the Court, the federal environmental agency stated that this Thursday’s hearing would only be a stage in the process and would not guarantee the company a license. The suspension of the debate, he said, harms the city’s residents.

“The ever-constant idea that prevention always imposes, even in the absence of robust justification, suspending the carrying out of concrete acts, even those that, as stated, will not cause direct harm to the environment”, claimed the environmental agency.

Federal judge Antônio André Muniz Mascarenhas de Souza, however, understood that the presentation of the certificate in the licensing process “is essential to the safety of the population directly impacted by the installation of the plant”.

“There is nothing more natural, therefore, that the municipal certificate states its validity period, since the potential use of the asset may change over time”, he wrote in his decision to suspend the project.

Natural Energia said, through its press office, that “it is monitoring the progress of the process so that the public hearing can be held, confident in Justice and in the population’s right to know about the project.”