[The Vector] News from around the world: Brazil and Energy
Brazil aims to triple its renewable energy use by 2020, according to the new national plan. Wind energy has a strong place in the plans, along with small hydropower. Brazil has already reached 1 GW from wind energy alone this year – and the goal is to be at 12 GW by 2020.
The country plans to generate 16% of its electricity from renewable energy sources in ten years, and set the goal to hit 27 GW of clean energy generation by then. Of the 27 GW, it has benchmarked 12 GW from wind, 6.4 GW from small hydropower, 9 GW from biomass. Total electricity consumption continues to grow in Brazil; April 2011 showed an increase of 2.4% over April 2010, and consumption in the first four months of 2011 was 4.1% higher than the same period in 2010, says the energy agency EPE (Empresa de Pesquisa Energetica). Interestingly, 26% of electrical consumption was met under the “free market” system from bilateral contracts between suppliers and consumer.
Brazil already starting moving away from fossil fuels as a country, but how is it going to hit the green targets? With strong investment in new renewable energy technologies, not continued investment in fossil fuels. Here’s how investment is scheduled to break down:
- $44.5 billion USD for renewable energy sources
- $60.7 billion USD for large-hydro plants
- $15.8 billion USD for fossil projects
The 10 year plan was created by Brazil’s energy research team.
Success Story?
Brazil can be seen as one kind of model in moving away from fossil fuels and bridging to the future. Brazil started the move away from fossil fuels by making a success of sugarcane based ethanol. The country first adopted ethanol as a fuel back in the 1970’s. After a slow start and continuing research, ethanol moved to become the principal fuel in Brazil, with gas pumps found throughout the country. It had imported more than 75% of its oil from foreign sources in 1980 and was not importing any oil by 2009, thanks to sugarcane ethanol and to its own domestic offshore exploration and drilling.
This is an example of having a plan, sticking to it long-term and we assume the country will apply the same principals to renewable energy.
