09/29/2024 – 15:58
The Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, has been in the midst of a turmoil in recent months. Prolonged drought, hydrological risk, red flag on energy bills, heated discussions about the possible return of daylight saving time and the launch of public policies in the sector — a positive agenda that the government would like to implement in the midst of the crisis.
Silveira guarantees that Brazil has energy security to face the drought and defends the return of summer time. A study by the National Electric System Operator (ONS) showed savings of up to R$1.8 billion from 2026 with the regular return of summer time.
+Summer time worries airlines, which ask for a minimum period of 180 days to adapt
+Savings with summer time could reach R$400 million in 5 months, says ONS
He is also in favor of oil exploration in the Equatorial Margin, as Brazil, despite having a clean and diversified matrix, cannot give up the wealth that fossil fuels can still offer.
Check out the interview:
We are already in September. Will daylight saving time return in 2024?
This will be decided by the beginning of October at the latest. We are holding numerous debates in the electricity sector and daily monitoring of the situation of reservoirs and rainfall projections. I assure you that there is no energy risk, not even if the dry period is extended. So DST would be useful to improve planning for 2025.
Will daylight saving time actually generate significant energy savings?
There are many experts, who are not yet up to date, who say that the electricity sector has changed and that peak consumption hours are no longer at night, but in the afternoon, between 2pm and 4pm. This is a truth. However, what they are not looking at is that, during the afternoon, we have peak energy production with solar generation, while between 6pm and 8pm, solar generation is at zero and consumption remains high, but now with the use of thermoelectric plants, which are more expensive and more polluting. That’s the difference.
Our determination is to keep energy security in the first place, we must have a resilient grid at all times. If this change in timetable is to be implemented and optimize energy use, I advocate that it be implemented.
Mr. guarantee that there is no risk of a power outage?
There is no such risk, not even if the drought continues. But it is clear that no responsible minister will create expectations that specific problems will not occur. But, as I said before, we have a resilient system and we are prepared to respond quickly.
What is being done for the country’s energy security?
The first thing I did when I took over was to set up a monitoring committee with frequent meetings so that we could improve the synergy and governance of the electrical ecosystem, which includes ONS, Aneel (National Electric Energy Agency), CCEE (Chamber of Commercialization of Electric Energy) and ANP (National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels), and the first topic was energy security. Thanks to this, we reached an agreement in which we reduced the flow of the Jupiá (SP) and Porto Primavera (SP) hydroelectric plants, which allowed us to keep the reservoir fuller.
Even though we are experiencing the lowest rainfall in the last 94 years, the reservoirs are in a position to give us the comfort of saying that we will not have an energy crisis. Furthermore, we maintained the water scarcity account, which skyrocketed during the Bolsonaro government, and today we have R$9 billion that allows us to have peace of mind not to raise the tariff flag even further.
Is the tariff flag being subsidized?
If the volume of rain that is expected to begin at the end of November is not sufficient, then we can use this resource to subsidize tariff flags. And it is very important to highlight that we were very careful in this sense, because a good part of the reservoirs are not just for the electrical sector, they are for multiple uses, they serve tourism, family farming, agribusiness and even the use of drinking water, as in the case of Furnas. So, we are managing to maintain compatibility between these lakes and the electricity sector.
Are there excessive subsidies? What proposal is the ministry preparing for the electricity sector reform project?
We are creating a reform under three fundamental pillars. Tariff justice, with a more balanced tariff between regulated consumers and those on the free market. Consumer freedom, with the digitalization of the distribution network by 2028 and 2030, for consumers to choose where they want to buy energy from.
And the other issue is the balance of the sector, if we don’t synergize the different matrices and modernize the sector as a whole, it will collapse from a tariff point of view. We want to present a PL to Congress by the end of the year to be debated, so that parliamentarians are aware of and support this fundamental reform, which has not been seen since 2004, with Dilma Rousseff heading the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
Energy distributors in the regulated market have complained that the free market receives too many subsidies, what do you have to say?
Yes, it is a problem that will be resolved with the reform of the sector. Security energy — which is the energy that conventional distributors are obliged to purchase by contract, such as Itaipú, thermoelectric and nuclear plants — is paid by all regulated consumers, who guarantee energy security. The lower classes, the middle class, everyone pays. It is a ‘Robin Hood’ regulation, which charges domestic consumers and exempts those on the free market.
What is the projection for the opening of the free energy market for low voltage consumers?
With the decree of anticipation for distributors, if they comply with the digitalization of the system, and with the new reform laws, the deadline we want is until 2028, guaranteeing freedom of choice for consumers.
What is your opinion about oil exploration in the Equatorial Margin?
I’m very confident that we can tap into that energetic potential. I believe that Brazil cannot give up its wealth and tomorrow be forced to import fossil fuel. We are working to replace these fuels, but it is a gradual change.
Furthermore, we are major exporters and this product will generate a lot of wealth, which will be important in the fight against hunger and inequality. I see this as a pragmatic issue, not a dogmatic one. We have one of the largest oil companies in the world, which is one of the safest in deep water exploration, with no history of environmental accidents.
In terms of public policies, what gains will be obtained from the recently approved Fuel of the Future program?
When I took on the ministry, the first three months I dedicated myself to delving deeper and building a team, especially in the three major areas of national importance. One of the things that soon came to me very clearly was the need to strengthen the communion between energy policies and national agribusiness.
It is evident that, due to Brazil’s vocation, its territorial dimension and tropical climate, we must use planting areas, especially degraded and recovered areas, in addition to the production of food and combined energy, as things can be combined.
We started to build a bolder project to decarbonize matrices with high greenhouse gas emissions and the first project was Combustível do Futuro, which basically creates a new national industry. It’s important to talk about all of them.
How does SAF production?
Yes, with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) we created a mandate for SAF, obliging the entire airline sector to gradually use, between 2027 and 2037, 1% to 10%. When we talk about a mandate, we are talking about immediately anchoring investments in a new industry. And we met a demand that existed, because we were part of the international agreement for airlines that required the use of this mixture. So, either we started producing or we would have to be an importer.
In addition, we also have Green Diesel, a product that we are anchoring production in, which is a mixture of fossil diesel. Today, we already have the biodiesel mixture, which is B15, but in Combustível do Futuro the mixture goes to B25, according to the resolution of the National Energy Policy Council (CNPE), so that it follows the increase in productivity in Brazil and not have an impact on the price of diesel at the pump. This policy strengthens an industry that the country has invested in for decades, which is ethanol.
Today, the limit is 18% to 27%, but we are increasing it to 22% to 35% for gasoline, according to studies to be presented by the MME. We also created the regulation of carbon capture and storage, so that we look for industries with zero or negative impact.
With this, we are foreseeing a new industry that will certainly make investments in new factories, plantations and the entire production chain, in decarbonization, between R$200 billion and R$300 billion over the next five years, generating around 700 thousand to 800 thousand direct jobs by 2028.
And what are the next steps for the ministry?
We have good news. We are going to inaugurate in Sinop (MT) the largest ethanol factory in the world, from Inpasa, which will produce 6 million liters of corn ethanol per day, thanks to the anchoring of Combustível do Futuro. President Lula was so enthusiastic that he held an event with more than 1,000 people from the sector, which encouraged and speeded up the approval of this project in both houses of Congress.
We are setting the date for the presidential sanction and we want it to be done during the G20 Energy event, from October 1st to 4th, with the presence of 46 energy ministers from around the world present, in Foz do Iguaçu (PR ). Now that Brazil has returned to dialogue with the world, hundreds of investors will be at the G20, already confirmed.
It is very important to talk about these public energy policies, as they not only strengthen the protein chain, the by-product of this chain, now literally becomes an energy that decarbonizes, facilitating the fulfillment of Brazil’s goals in the Paris agreement and the Development Goals UN Sustainable.
#Summer #time #generate #savings #energy #risk #minister