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According to data released by the Association of International Renewable Energy
(Irena), since 2014, Brazil is the country with the biggest capacity for the production
of energy from biomass, representing 15.3% of the total in the world, ahead of such
developed countries as the United States, with 13.6%; China, with 11.6%; India, with
6.2%; and Japan, with 5% of the total.
of the capacity installed in Brazil, but 2016
will come to a close with 7%. “This per-
centage is likely to drop to only 2% by
2020, should there be no changes to the
auction models and incentive to the use
of biomass”, the executive director warns.
This happens because the federal gov-
ernment is engaged in promoting the di-
versification of the electric matrix, with di-
rectives focused on stimulating wind and
solar energy sources, along with the dis-
tributed mini and micro generation. This
move, nonetheless, gives rise to discour-
agement in terms of heavier investments
in the generation of bioenergy. “There is
need for a sectoral policy that encourages
the improvement of the institutional envi-
ronment”, Souza adds.
In 2014, biomass mills increased by
more than 20% the generation of ener-
gy for the National Interconnected Sys-
tem (Sin), compared to the previous year.
In 2013, it was up 32% from 2012. Gener-
ation by biomass, in general, went up in
2015, but at a slower pace compared to
the previous years. From January through
December, the numbers released by the
Electric Energy Trading Chamber (CCEE)
show that the volume generated by bio-
electricity was up 9% for the SIN, from
2014. The accumulation in 2015 shows
that biomass provided enough energy to
supply 11.7 million households.
The sugar and energy sector also of-
fered more electricity to the SIN. From 2013
to 2014, the growth of the surpluses offered
to the electric system reached 21%. In 2015,
there was a variation of 4%. The supply of
20.2 TWh of the sugar and energy sector
in 2015 represented savings of 14% of wa-
ter in the dams of the electric submarket in
the Southeast/Central-West, once the gen-
eration occurs during drought periods, the
most critical time for the electricity sector.
The renewable energy that was produced
prevented 8.6 million tons of CO2 from
reaching the atmosphere, a volume that
would be reached by the cultivation of 60
million native trees over a 20-year period,
according to Unica sources.
POTENTIAL
From 2004 to 2015, bio-
electricity from sugarcane bagasse traded
120 projects in the auctions, totaling 1.622
average MW (14.209 GWh delivered per
year). However, since 2011, the biomass
source has no longer been invited to partic-
ipate. The focus has been on solar and wind
energy, and equally on small hydroelectric
plants. According to the Energy Research
Company (EPE), in 2014 there were 177
sugar-energy units, within 355 mills, export-
ing bioelectricity surpluses to the national
electric system, which allows us to presume
that the capacity in the number of compa-
nies could double if the mills went through
a refurbishment process (retrofit) for a full
use of the bagasse and straw.
The most recent Ten-Year Energy Ex-
pansion Plan (PDE 2024) indicates that the
technical potential of annual generation for
the electric system by sugarcane biomass
could be equal to the capacity of two Itaipu
hydroelectric plants, generating 165 TWh/
year by 2024. If the Country decides to take
advantage of the technical potential of bio-
electricity from sugarcane, according to EPE
sources, this source alone has the capacity
to provide 24% of the national consump-
tion of the electric system by 2024.
Biomass once
represented 32%
of the evolution
of the installed
capacity
63
BIOMASSAS
Biomass
Matriz de energia elétrica – Geração por biomassa
Fontes agroindustriais
Nº de Usina
KW
%*
Bagaço de cana-de-açúcar
395
10.756.760
6,978
Biogás-AGR
3
1.822
0,001
Capim elefante
3
65.700
0,042
Casca de arroz
12
45.333
0,029
Total
413
10.869.615 7,051%*
* Sobre o total gerado das diversas origens da matriz.
Fonte:
Aneel, agosto de 2016.
