Fortescue moves forward with Brazil green hydrogen project

Australia-based green energy company Fortescue has filed the environmental impact assessment (EIA) and its environmental impact report (RIMA) for the project to build the Fortescue Green Hydrogen Plant in Ceará state. 

The hydrogen plant will potentially be developed in the Pecém industrial and port complex in three phases: 1 and 2 with 1,200MW, and phase 3 with an additional 900MW. 

The project has the potential to produce 837t of green hydrogen per day from the consumption of 2,100MW of renewable energy.

The process now continues with the request for the implementation license (LI) and operation license (LO).

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The São Paulo court of justice has suspended works on the Barueri energy recovery plant (URE), owned by Orizon Valorização de Resíduos for three months, due to the lack of an executive project for the enterprise.

The decision was based on the fact that the executive project is necessary for the judicial expert to adequately determine the threats of the plant to the environment and the health of the surrounding population.

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Regulator Aneel has approved the draft notice for the second power transmission auction of 2023. 

Involving estimated investments of 21bn reais (US$4.37bn), the auction provides for the construction and maintenance of more than 3,000km of lines and 9,840MW in substation conversion capacity. 

The draft will be issued in the coming days for consideration by the federal audit court (TCU). 

The auction is scheduled for December 15 at the B3 stock exchange headquarters in São Paulo.

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Bank Santander Brasil acquired FIT Energia, Hy Brazil Energia's distributed generation platform that connects clean energy generation asset holders to low-voltage consumers (individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises). 

According to Santander, the transaction will allow the bank to expand its operations in the energy market, serving an audience lacking options to consume renewable energy and at a lower price than that charged by distributors.

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Neoenergia has created a mobile and digital tool to inspect wind and photovoltaic farms.

While working on the wind farms, the teams use cell phones in an offline environment, since the turbines are in locations without access to telephone or internet networks. When the devices can connect with the network, the data is automatically stored.

Previously, information collected in the field was recorded manually on an inspection form. With the mobile tool, an app converts the data into a PDF file.

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National grid operator ONS, electric power commercialization chamber CCEE and federal energy research company EPE project 3.5% growth in Brazil's electricity load in 2023. 

That forecast is stable compared with the first review published in March, even with the higher outlook for this year's GDP growth, which has been raised to 2.3% from 1.0%. 

The estimate is for average annual growth of 3.3% in load in the period between 2023 and 2027, reaching 84,980MWa at the end of the cycle.

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Equatorial Goiás held the launch ceremony for the new Pireneus-Daia transmission line in Anápolis, Goiás state.  

The distributor also delivered the reconstruction of the Anápolis Universitário substation and the expansion and improvements of the Daia and Jundiaí substations. 

The new service agency of the distributor in the city was also opened. 

In total, Equatorial invested around 130mn reais in the electrical system in the municipality, which is the third largest in the state.

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Brazil reached the mark of 23GW of capacity in distributed generation (DG) in July. 

The result was driven mainly by solar energy, with more than 98% of the total in DG, but also includes wind, biomass and others sources.

Brazil is expected to invest 38bn reais in the sector 2023, which will reach capacity of 26GW by the end of the year.

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Lemon Energia, a subscription-based energy startup, will expand its electricity bill discount offer to small businesses in and around the city of Campinas in São Paulo state. 

Part of the strategy is to offer the service to the approximately 1,000 establishments represented by the regional Brazilian association of bars and restaurants (Abrasel).