Pains of a productive segment

by Cícero Bley Jr.

In 9 months, the Renova PR/IDR Program has accumulated impressive figures. R$300 million has already been invested in renewable energy. In 1,800 projects approved by banks, one of the figures, however, is that: “less than 10 units of these projects were invested in biogas”, reveals Herlon Almeida, the Program’s creator and competent manager. In addition to financing renewable sources, the Program has become a radar for identifying information about renewables in Paraná. What could this low acceptance rate for financing offers to implement biogas projects reveal? Given that solar PV is taking off in the matrix? To get answers, we must first accept that metadata like this is not an opinion. But rather indisputable information. And therefore it must be considered and respected. Its function is to provoke reflections and reactions.

It is not too much to admit that biogas is stuck, has problems. And it is necessary to recover them so that it is not excluded from Brazil’s energy matrix. Recognizing that the pig farming segment, the main target of Renova PR, is suffering from its own problems, such as the freezing of the production scale, which is producing cost pressure due to the successive increases in supplies, such as feed, medicines, fuels and others. Medium and small-scale pig farming in particular is in a critical situation. And this can only be resolved by adding safe systems for the final disposal of waste, the basis for the sustainability of production, to be negotiated with environmental control agencies.

In the face of shortages, the situation is further aggravated by the failure of biogas projects already implemented. Due to the absolute lack of after-sales technical assistance and the compulsory purchase of energy through the Distributed Generation compensation mechanism, imposed by Aneel. Compensation is an impediment to the sale of energy and is being passively accepted by producers themselves and authorities in general. This has been discouraging generation initiatives with biogas, which are much more complex than solar generation. Without anyone to sell the surplus produced, producers see the energy they generated being lost in the depths of the utility grids. There is an urgent need to free up the free market for electricity for small-scale generation and also for biomethane fuel energy. There is also no local infrastructure to support the projects implemented. The problems are left to the producers, who are already overwhelmed by the problems of animal production. There is also no training for operators and there is little local entrepreneurship with assistance and spare parts.

Listening to the “cry” made by biogas in Renova PR, national, state and municipal public policies should encourage the production of biogas “inside the farm”, for medium and small producers. They are the ones who need to make their production viable and have in biogas production a powerful route to sustainable economic and environmental viability.

Cícero Bley Jr. is CEO of Bley Energias Estratégias e Soluções
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cicero-bley-jr-38321523