Wind power and solar energy have reached maturity

The president of AES Tietê, Ítalo Freitas, supports the Federal Government’s proposal to end the subsidy granted to renewable energies; however, it considers that it would not be consistent for legislators to maintain or create incentives for technologies with a high carbon footprint, such as thermoelectric generation.

“The function of the grant is to promote a technology that is still in development. In my opinion, renewable technologies, mainly wind power, are already well developed, ”said the executive at a ceremony promoted by the Valor Econômico newspaper on Monday, September 14.

“Another thing that I think is important is the question of isonomy. It makes no sense to take a subsidy for a renewable generation and increase the subsidy for a thermal generation with a high carbon footprint ”, he criticized.

Provisional Measure 998, issued on September 1, 2020 by the Federal Government, under the slogan of “MP Consumer”, brings in one of its mandates the proposal to eliminate the subsidy for the production of renewable electricity in 2021. The benefit is granted to generators from renewable sources in the form of a discount (50% to 100%) in the rates for the use of transmission (TUST) and distribution (TUSD) systems; but that, on the other hand, tax all energy consumers and may become an unpayable account in the future given the growth rate of R $ 500 million per year.

Freitas highlighted the importance of renewable sources both in the global context by contributing to the decarbonization of the global energy matrix, as well as from the local point of view, generating economic development, employment and income in remote regions of the country, where the earth often it has little productive capacity. due to unfavorable weather conditions. On the other hand, there is a lot of wind and sun, which has caused several energy companies to invest billions in the development of projects, construction and operation of wind farms and solar plants.

From a systemic point of view, renewable sources challenge the operation of the electricity grid due to their low inertia, that is, their ability to contribute to maintaining the frequency of 60 Hertz (Hz), said AES Tietê CEO. The variability of the sources challenges the maintenance of this inertia and can cause unexpected events in the electrical supply.

Freitas said this balance can be achieved with the use of batteries and hydrogen energy storage systems. He charged the Brazilian government with incentives for the development of technologies that can rebalance the system without generating additional emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere.