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Manager said on the Green Energy Report podcast that the state-owned company needs to get more involved in the hydrogen agenda
European countries don't have the winds that we have. They do not have the solar radiation that is a hallmark of almost all northeastern states; but they are still much more advanced in developing the fuel of the future: green hydrogen. Concerned about this reality and the possibility that Brazil – and notably the northeastern states – will miss this enormous window of opportunities, the Secretary of Economic Development of Bahia, Ângelo Almeida, proposes the participation of Petrobras, as an arm of the State, to pull this development, boost investments. But not only that: Almeida proposes that the state-owned company create a subsidiary focused entirely on the development of renewable energy.
The manager said that he sees the current state of national production as a great concern, as he does not see an environment of convergence of actions, which, in his view, could imply the loss of opportunities generated by the country's own geographical conditions. Almeida mentioned that, despite Brazil's conditions to advance, European nations, with fewer natural resources, are ahead.
“They don’t have the winds that we have, and they never will. They don’t have the solar radiation that we have – the Northeast and Bahia – they never will. They don’t have the conditions that Bahia and the Northeast have, especially Bahia, to build this environment that is ideal for having the first green refinery,” said Ângelo Almeida, in an interview with journalist Gusmão Neto on the Green Energy Report podcast, from the BP Money portal.
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“[I view the issue of green hydrogen] with great concern. I see that there is a lack of coordination. An environment of harmony and dialogue with convergence needs to be built: we are not realizing this at the moment. This is a debate that must be followed by concrete actions and we will not have concrete actions if we do not have, within this debate, a company, for example, like Petrobras”, said Ângelo Almeida.
The secretary mentions that he is not the only voice asking for greater participation from Petrobras in the green hydrogen market. “I have seen and followed, coincidentally, a fellow countryman of ours, Deyvid Bacelar, general coordinator of Fup [Federação Única dos Petroleiros] who is practically talking to himself and he is calling on society and Petrobras itself so that it can step up and start presenting projects more effectively that, for now, have very little grip and are very timid”, said Almeida.
Our thesis is that Petrobras has a disruptive outlook and can believe in the power of innovation. Innovate, creating a subsidiary, a new company, an arm of Petrobras that is aimed at feeding and bringing the innovation policy and incentives for the construction of a large park, a large clean energy plant, solar, wind, which we have abundantly in Bahia. […] There is no public policy aimed at innovation anywhere in the world that has been carried out without government participation. That's what the State is there for: no one will innovate with their own pocket money. If it innovates and takes risks it is with government money. […] This investment has to come from the State, and Petrobras is the arm [of the State]; The Brazilian State has the majority [of the shares] and it must have this responsibility to make this leap in innovation and for the quality of life of our people.
Ângelo Almeida, Secretary of Economic Development of Bahia
When talking about the Bahian scenario, he highlighted that the state has “a perfect storm, in a good way”, a very robust ecosystem that can make Bahia capable of producing this fuel of the future as “the cheapest green hydrogen on the planet, in the world".
Ângelo Almeida also commented on the need to increase the population's knowledge about the sustainable economy. “People still don’t know what a green economy is. There is very little idea that the green economy will bring sustainability and social development conditions to our state and to the Brazilian Northeast with great strength”.
The secretary compared the difference between the Brazilian and European realities. “Any citizen today who goes through these European TV channels will watch a debate and, in all of this debate, in almost all of them, there is a discussion about climate change, about the need for a fair energy transition. Investments are already happening massively, regulations and regulatory frameworks are already happening in Europe and we are in the stone age here”, he exemplified.
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