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After announcing investments in hydrogen plants, Porto do Açu requests a license to build offshore wind farms

Written by Flavia Marinho
Published 10/08/2021 às 11:04
porto do açu - offshore wind - plant - green hydrogen

In addition to offshore wind energy production, Porto do Açu plans to have a green hydrogen plant and an ammonia plant.

Porto do Açu, located in São João da Barra, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, has begun environmental licensing for offshore wind farms with 2.160 MW of installed capacity, and intends to attract one or more partners to develop the four Ventos do Açu wind farms. According to information, the initial data has already been sent to Ibama.

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“Just as we were the base for the oil and gas industry, we can be the base for offshore wind and green hydrogen production. Offshore wind generation will be of great importance for green hydrogen in Brazil,” said Filipe Segantine, manager of Sustainable Business Development at Porto do Açu.

With several projects in the energy sector, the investment is directly linked to the development of business in the area of ​​green hydrogen, which has been moving Brazilian ports.

“We have all the port logistics infrastructure and the knowledge of several licensed offshore projects” says Mauro Andrade, executive director of Business Development at Prumo, to epbr.

Açu has already closed an investment memorandum with the Australian mining company Fortescue for the installation of a green ammonia plant, based on hydrogen, 100% aimed at exports. And he hopes to attract other projects of the type.

There are several initiatives in ports from Rio to Ceará, where the state government wants to develop a green hydrogen hub. The projects go hand in hand with the development of offshore wind.

Açu 1 to 4 offshore wind farms could reach up to 540 MW of power

In this current phase, 12 MW to 15 MW wind turbines are planned, installed between 20 km and 54 km from the coast of the municipalities of Campos dos Goytacazes and São João da Barra, where the Port of Açu is located.

The 15 MW turbines are being developed by the market precisely with an eye on offshore projects. In general, companies seek to increase the scale of marine parks, where operating and installation costs are also higher.

The idea is to take advantage of the greater availability of winds, which tend to be stronger and more constant offshore, increasing the availability of energy for sale.

In the environmental licensing, the IEA Wind 15-MW reference wind towers developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), an agency linked to the US Department of Energy, are considered.

It is an open source project created to help in the development of the industry.

The entire infrastructure will be underwater or installed in the Port of Açu itself, including transmission lines and marine substations for energy flow to the National Interconnected System (SIN), via SE 500 kV Campos 2.

“The land connection point at the limits of Porto do Açu seeks to minimize environmental and social changes related to this project, in addition to being a facilitating factor for the implementation and maintenance of the project, since the port has existing support infrastructure and area for expansion. , as required by the project”, says the project sent to Ibama.

by – epbr

Porto do Açu will receive investments for the construction of new hydrogen plants

In addition to the production of energy by sea waves, Porto do Açu plans to have a green hydrogen plant and an ammonia plant based on green hydrogen.

Brazil is capable of leading the green hydrogen market with a competitive price due to its vocation for clean energy, evaluated experts gathered in a webinar promoted today, 3, by the Federation of Industries of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan).

“By 2025, the strategies will be defined and green hydrogen will enter the global market with force, and will change the entire way of trading energy worldwide,” said Ansgar Pinkowski, Innovation and Sustainability manager at the Brazil Chamber of Commerce and Industry. -Germany.

According to him, large consortia are already being formed in Europe to enter the green hydrogen market, and Germany's eyes are on Brazil. Other countries, however, must enter this dispute, including Paraguay, which, according to Pinkowski, wants to use the energy that it does not currently use from the Itaipu binational hydroelectric plant, to produce green hydrogen for export.

Paraguay is entitled to half of Itaipu's energy, but since it did not use it, it sold about 40% of its share to Brazil, a model that has been modified and may change once and for all with the renegotiation of the contract, which expires in 2023. Paraguay wants the right to trade surplus energy with other countries, including for the production of green hydrogen.

Germany announced the goal of achieving the decarbonization of the economy by 2050. For this, according to Pinkowski, it will need to import 90% of the green hydrogen it needs. Morocco is another competitor for Brazilian green hydrogen, and intends to build pipelines to take the input to Germany, which will give it an advantage over the product from Brazil, which, to reach the European country, would have to add greenhouse gases in transport.

“There's no point in generating green hydrogen and putting it on a ship that uses heavy oil all the way to Europe. That carbon balance will cost. But there are already studies for ships based on ammonia, for example, green ammonia could be used as fuel for large ships”, said the executive.

Green hydrogen market could move around 40 billion euros by 2030

It is estimated that the green hydrogen market could move around 40 billion euros by 2030. In Brazil, so far, two major projects are being developed, in Ceará and Porto do Açu (RJ), informed the technical consultant from the Energy Research Company (EPE), Luciano Oliveira, who sees no barriers to the start of green hydrogen production in the country.

“There is no need to have new rules for hydrogen production, we have the regulatory framework to take advantage of this opportunity”, highlighted Oliveira.

For Filipe Segantine, Sustainable Business Development manager at Porto do Açu, the green hydrogen to be produced in Brazil could become the most competitive in the world, reaching a price of US$ 0,55 per kilo, ahead of neighboring Argentina and Chile.

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Flavia Marinho

Flavia Marinho is a postgraduate engineer with extensive experience in the onshore and offshore shipbuilding industry. In recent years, she has dedicated herself to writing articles for news websites in the areas of industry, oil and gas, energy, shipbuilding, geopolitics, jobs and courses. Contact her for suggestions, job openings or advertising on our portal.

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