Equipment will contribute to Covid-19 immunization campaigns in 673 Brazilian cities​​​

The 700+ refrigerators donated by Neoenergia and targeted to store vaccines started to be distributed on this Thursday (18) to the 673 cities benefited by the company's initiative. The first equipment is delivered by Neoenergia's distribution companies in Bahia (Coelba) and Pernambuco (Celpe). In Bahia, the deliveries are performed in the cities close to Feira de Santana; in Pernambuco, the freezing chambers will start to be delivered to the health centers in Recife on this Friday (19). The cities chosen in São Paulo and Rio Grande do Norte, around the concession areas of Elektro and Cosern, respectively, are supposed to receive the first units over the new weeks.

The donation, which amounted to R$ 7.5 million in resources that are part of the Energy Efficiency Program (PEE), regulated by the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (Aneel), will have a gradual distribution and all refrigerators are expected to be delivered by late April. All chosen cities are served by the company's electricity concessionaire - – Coelba (BA), Celpe (PE), Cosern (RN) and Elektro (SP/MS). The action will contribute to the immunization of the population and the combat to the COVID-19 pandemic in the cities with the lowest Municipal Human Development Index (IDHM) of the areas at which the companies serve.

“Our objective is to assist the population in the poorest of our concession areas in order to contain the pandemic. The donated vaccine refrigerators are suitable to store the vaccines in the immunization campaigns, because they have programmable and constant temperature between 2°C and 8°C, sensors and battery for the proper storage of the dosages", stated Neoenergia's Energy Efficiency Manager, Ana Christina Mascarenhas.

The cities served by the distribution companies in the Northeastern region, with IDHM of up to 0.61, and in São Paulo, with index of up to 0.74,  are benefited by the donation. 296 cities in Coelba's concession area, 136 in Pernambuco, 95 in Rio Grande do Norte and 143 in São Paulo will be benefited, each city with one equipment. The city governments of the capitals Recife and Salvador will also be benefited, of which 20 will be allocated to the capital of Pernambuco and two will be allocated to the capital of Bahia. In addition to the cities, the action will supply 11 refrigerators to the government of the States of Rio Grande do Norte, Bahia and São Paulo, two of which to Rio Grande do Norte and Bahia and seven to São Paulo.

The vaccine refrigerators donated by Neoenergia are domestically manufactured and have capacity of 280 liters, sufficient to store about 18 thousand dosages containing 0.5 ml. The Government of Rio Grande do Norte and the City Governments of Salvador and Recife will receive 2 pieces of equipment of 420 liters each.

Energy Efficiency

In a strategy created by the company to avoid wasting energy, the company will receive two inadequate vaccine refrigerators or freezers, for each new equipment donated. In this way, the 107 kW load injected into the electrical system will be compensated and the estimated annual consumption of 940 MWh from the 703 conservation chambers. The total estimated energy savings of the project ​will be 2,334.92 MWh / year, which is equivalent to the monthly consumption of 23,335 homes with an average expenditure of 100 kWh per month. In addition, the company will remove substances such as CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) gases, which can contribute to the greenhouse effect, and correctly dispose of old equipment received.