Awarded by the trade winds, Ceará could become the Saudi Arabia of Green Hydrogen at the lowest global cost

Ceará has the support of giant international investors. Asa Branca wind farm project, under analysis at Ibama, foresees the installation of 10 modules, each with 72 turbines of 15 MW, which will be supplied by Vestas, which already manufactures them in Denmark, or else by GE or Siemens

According to Bloomberg NewEnergy Finance, as long as current regulations are met, Ceará and Brazil could become the Saudi Arabia of Green Hydrogen at the lowest global cost. The existing legal norms are “fully applicable” to other energy generation projects by the force of the winds in the ocean, as recently stated by the majority shareholder and CEO of Eólica Brasil Ltda, which developed the project for the first offshore wind farm in the Brazil — the Asa Branca, located within the sea of ​​the Ceará municipalities of Amontada, Itarema and Acaraú, in an interview with Diário do Nordeste.

Read also

• Oil price soars and exceeds $80 after OPEC+ decides to increase production to 400.000 barrels per day (bpd) in February and the US celebrates
• China passes the US and will be the only country to have its own space station; to take the lead in space exploration, Chinese government to build with Russia a base at the south pole of the Moon
• Portuguese multinational has ambitious plans in Brazil, bets on the Brazilian market and plans to earn more than R$ 218 million in 2025
• Gold mine in the middle of the hinterland: Canadian South Atlantic Gold invests R$ 13 million in Ceará and the State may have the first commercial exploitation of the ore in history
• Petrobras transferred, on Saturday (4/12), the operation of the LNG Regasification Terminal in Bahia to Excelerate and the Brazilian oil company's regasification vessel will be directed to the Pecém Terminal, in Ceará

The executive, who is also president of Abemar (Associação Brasileira de Eólicas Marítimas) reveals in the interview that it is necessary to “demystify the false legal uncertainty for offshore wind farms, given that the existing general rules are fully applicable, and were applied to the Wind Farm Marítimo Asa Branca, from my company, in Ceará”.

(The Asa Branca wind farm project, under analysis at Ibama, provides for the installation of 10 modules, each with 72 15 MW turbines, which will be supplied by Vestas, which already manufactures them in Denmark, or by GE or Siemens. , which certainly, at the time of the implementation of the project, will also be manufacturing them). 

Ceará could be the Saudi Arabia of Green Hydrogen

Check out an exclusive interview by Marcelo Storrer, an expert on the subject, to Diário do Nordeste:

“Ceará and Brazil could become the Saudi Arabia of Green Hydrogen at the lowest global cost, as already anticipated by Bloomberg NewEnergy Finance, as long as the rules in force are complied with”, predicts Marcelo Storrer, whose project already has the support of large international investors.

“We were the only ones to obtain the DRO (construction authorization) for offshore wind farms in 2016. In 2019, we obtained the DRO 1.693/19, tacitly renewed in 2020 and 2021, despite the erroneous information, spread in the market, that the general rule of REN Aneel 876/20 for authorization of wind power (in kind) does not apply to the specific case.
 
“Just to quote part of the rules applicable in kind to offshore wind, I refer to Dec. 2233/97, Art. 1st, I, a; to Law 9636/98, Art. 18, 19, 42, paragraph 1; to the same Law 9636/98, Articles 1 to 3; to REN Aneel 876/20 and other SPU standards (Ordinance SPU 402/12, IN SPU 02/18, IN SPU 05/18, among others).
 
“I have read several articles, including the column Egídio Serpa, in the Diário do Nordeste, about legislation in which the interviewees do not have legal training, and there is a lot of wrong information being propagated, which can and should be corrected for the sake of the truth”, he says. Storer. 

The north coast of Brazil that was rewarded by the trade winds in RN, CE and PI

“There is a symbiosis between Green Hydrogen (H2V) and Offshore Wind. The north coast of Brazil, rewarded as it was by the trade winds in RN, CE and PI, will transform Ceará and Brazil into H2V Saudi Arabia at the lowest global cost, as already anticipated by Bloomberg NewEnergy Finance. 

“But this will only happen if the state governments support and the federal government approves the offshore wind projects, which are being processed based on the general rules applicable to this species. H2V depends on clean electricity on a large scale, which will be made possible with offshore wind above 1 MW, which will allow the sale of 300 MW throughout the year as firm energy in quantity contracts, whose price will make offshore wind viable . 

“The excess will be sold by availability with sufficient price and scale to make H2V viable. Thus, offshore wind and H2V will feed each other in symbiosis, without government subsidies.”

According to the executive, and an expert on the subject, “The general rules in force support all aspects of generation, transmission and commercialization, by the private sector, of electric energy from wind sources at sea, in the form of independent energy production (IEP).

“Let's break it down: Environmental Licensing: Ibama issued a specific TR-EIA/RIMA; the PIE is subject to Authorization; There is no law determining bidding for authorization, which is always the result of a citizen's request at any time and at their own risk. Whoever first requests and fulfills the requirements closes the area to third parties, removing the competitive conditions for any bidding. Hence its unenforceability.

“There's more: the SPU allows Aneel to authorize DRO/PIE before the assignment contract, by declaration of area availability. Aneel must accept it under penalty of invading the competence of the SPU, such as creating new properties at sea, registering with the SPU and registering with the IR; Generating electricity from any of its sources is an economic benefit of high national interest.

The Union charges only the use of areas for the private use of the interested party, which in offshore wind farms are the water surface occupied by the foundations of the platforms

“The Union may assign to the private sector the right to pay for the use of its properties at sea for economic use in the national interest; the m² value of new properties at sea is the average of the value of all public spaces in the municipality's Generic Values ​​Plan; regulation of the SPU for onerous assignment of use of properties at sea for platforms must be applied to offshore wind, as in these the turbines are never installed directly at sea, but always on platforms; 

“The Union only charges the use of areas for the interested party's private use, which in offshore wind farms are the water surface occupied by the platforms' foundations, plus the 50 m radius of restriction on navigation around them; each platform occupies a building; the areas of underground electrical conductors are intended for free passage authorization, as the people can navigate over them, deconfigurating private use; 

“A transfer agreement covers the properties of the wind farm and the authorization for free passage of electrical conductors; 2% of the value of Union properties used privately is paid to the SPU per year; there are mandatory clauses in contracts for the onerous assignment of Union real estate with the private sector; the SPU must receive the DRO or PIE from Aneel as authorization for assignment, under penalty of the SPU invading Aneel's competence; there are rules for connection to the basic network of the SIN (National Interconnected System) and for the sale of electricity in the regulated and free markets.

Finally, Marcelo Storrer, a lawyer graduated from USP, says: 

“In conclusion: a new law or decree is unnecessary to make offshore wind farms viable in Brazil; The Aneel has the duty to grant DRO and PIE to offshore wind farms; the SPU must receive DRO/PIE as assignment authorization and enter into an onerous assignment agreement with the one authorized by Aneel, with non-enforceability of bidding due to lack of competitive conditions.”

This column hopes to have added to the northeastern renewable energy market, mainly to the sector linked to offshore wind energy generation, clarifications that will help to understand the issue, which requires a lot of technical knowledge. 

by- Egídio Serpa in Diário do Nordeste