By Letícia Fucuchima
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – 2W Energia, a company that operates in the commercialization and generation of energy, is increasing its bet on serving small consumers in the electricity sector, at the same time that it resumed “roadshows” with international investors in order to seek resources to capitalize on in the future, company executives told Reuters.
Since 2020, the company has started to focus on sales to the so-called “retail” of the electricity sector – that is, small consumers, usually commercial or service establishments, with electricity bills of around 30,000 reais per month.
The value of contracts closed in this segment reached 1 billion reais at the end of March this year, which can be considered a milestone for a niche that is still very little developed in Brazil.
Between the end of 2020 and the first quarter of 2022, 2W saw its small customer base increase from 60 to 324.
According to 2W’s IR director, Eduardo Portelada, part of this success comes from the capillarity built by the company throughout the country. Attracting customers for migration to the free market through the 2W platform is done through a network of autonomous agents, which the company calls “energy consultants”.
“We need to be in cities in the interior of Mato Grosso, Goiás, Bahia, Ceará… For you to find the small and medium entrepreneur, he is in a city like this, you need someone local who knows this guy, who is able to effectively convince this person migration (to the free market)”, explains Portelada.
In addition to the untapped potential of the retail segment, which should grow with the gradual liberalization foreseen for the energy market in the coming years, another attraction is the better margins obtained from the sale of energy, said the director.
At the same time, the company continues to seek commercialization agreements for larger customers, on a “wholesale” basis. But, unlike other generators and traders, which focus on electro-intensive consumers and long-term contracts, the company focuses on contracts of 4 to 7 years, which allow for better price conditions.
Last week, 2W announced an agreement with Ambev to supply renewable energy to the company’s factories in the North and Northeast. The supply will come from the Kairós wind complex, which the energy company is building in Icapuí (CE), scheduled to start operating in the first half of 2023.
The focus on the generation segment, in addition to purchasing energy from third parties in the free market, was important for 2W to guarantee customers reliability in terms of the supply of renewable energy, highlighted the CEO, Cláudio Ribeiro.
2W’s first generation project is the Anemus wind farm, in Rio Grande do Norte, which should start generating energy this year. With 138.6 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity, the project will receive approximately 700 million reais in investments and is being built by WEG, which is also a supplier of wind turbines.
The Kairós wind project will have 261 MW of power and will be built by Danish company Vestas. The Potiguar venture will have two phases, which add up to a total of 1.4 billion reais in contributions.
CONTACT WITH INVESTORS
2W Energia even tried to make an initial public offering (IPO) in 2020, but ended up withdrawing the process amid the worsening market at the time – during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
More recently, the company intensified its conversations with foreign investors, holding roadshows in Europe and the United States. The objective is to create an approximation for an eventual resumption of the IPO, which may take place in Brazil or abroad, or for a private injection of capital.
The director said he saw a good reception from investors about the company’s investment thesis, noting that there has been a considerable evolution of the business since 2020.
“Part of the investors we’ve talked to now saw the company two years ago, when we didn’t even have the debt for the projects, just 30 energy consultants and sold nothing at retail”.
(By Leticia Fucuchima)
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