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More than 20 years ago, when Neoenergia started the research to install its first wind farms, the energy coming from the winds still didn't have the protagonism seen today in the Brazilian energy matrix. Now, the forecasts of the electricity sector confirm what the company already believed more than two decades ago: the future is of the renewable energies. Invited by the specialized platform MegaWhat, the CEO of Neoenergia, Mario Ruiz-Tagle, celebrated the growth in demand for clean energy and talked about several other relevant themes for the market. See the main subjects approached on the live, which had the mediation of journalists Rodrigo Polito and Camila Maia:

MegaWhat: How do you see the prospect of growth in renewable sources?

 

Mário Ruiz-Tagle: For us, at  Neoenergia, it sounds like a very good song to listen to when we hear about the growth of renewable sources. We are part of the Iberdrola group, an international group with a strong footprint in renewable energies. We started to navigate this path 20 years ago. At that time, we were those people who talked about the wind, the sun, marine wind energy, all the things that are now part of our daily lives and that don't stop growing. Today, the world has made a very clear choice: most companies are migrating to a sustainable production chain, which, undoubtedly needs clean energy. Brazil is a privileged country in raw material, it has water, sun, wind and other sources of energy.

At Neoenergia, we are focused on renewable energies and EPE (Energy Research Company), in its Decennial Plan, is conducting a signaling to the players in the generation segment that the country will need renewable energies that are efficient and economic. Now, for example, we are building two wind farms of  1,000 MW, in Bahia, Piauí and Paraíba, and we made an agreement with PEC Energia to acquire a project with an additional 400 MW, which is being developed and will be in our pipeline from 2023 to start construction. This is our core business. For us, talking about wind energy, photovoltaic and offshore wind is talking about our daily life, what we do to meet society's demand from the point of view of generating clean, sustainable energy that serves to contain climate change.

MegaWhat: What is your view on opportunities in new energy sources?

 

Mario Ruiz-Tagle: The most important thing is never to reject a technology. There is green hydrogen, which today, given the acceleration in Europe, will gain space. Three years ago, talking about green hydrogen did not fit in the real world. Today, it is already starting to be spoken because it has use in fertilizers and production by desalination of sea water. The great conflict in the future will clearly be the unavailability of water and we have today an unused source, which is sea water. As we manage to use processes, as electricity manages to bring seawater into fresh water at a reasonable cost, it gains space for this technology.

MegaWhat: And what's your view on electric mobility?

 

Mário Ruiz-Tagle: We already have a vehicle acquisition policy, in which we have a pilot project of 30 electric vehicles within our fleet. We have recharging points in all the buildings of the company headquarters. We understand that the electric vehicle  is a strong trend to come. In Europe today, no one thinks about a combustion car anymore. The youth in Europe are very sensitive to environmental issues and prefer to ride bicycles, public transportation or look for another way of getting around.

MegaWhat: What will be the role of distribution with the growth of the free market? 

 

Mario Ruiz-Tagle: Our core business is to generate necessary and sufficient grids for energy transportation to the place of final consumption, be it an industry, a residence, a business or any other type. The distributor will play a much more operative role. Can you imagine what the management of all these energies will be like? Wind, distributed generation, electric vehicle, battery, etc. The energy flow will change. In the old days, when an electrician was going to cut the energy, he was only concerned with the cable on the side of the pole, because the energy never came from the house. But if there is distributed generation, now you have to worry about both sides. This is the first safety protocol: the two cables have to be jacketed, it is the basic. You have to start making changes from the basic level for future operations.

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