Latest news with #energia
Reuters
9 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Brazil power firm Brasol, backed by Siemens and BlackRock, to double investments this year
SAO PAULO, June 4 (Reuters) - Brazilian energy firm Brasol, which has Siemens ( opens new tab and BlackRock (BLK.N), opens new tab as its main shareholders, expects to more than double investments this year as it aims to expand core businesses and diversify its portfolio, its chief executive said. Brasol, which operates small-sized solar power assets, expects to invest up to 2 billion reais ($354.6 million) this year, CEO Ty Eldridge told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday, up from about 900 million reais in 2024. "We believe that we can keep doubling (investments on an annual basis) for a few more years," he said, noting that Brasol wants to further grow its solar power business while also expanding in customer services, batteries and power lines. Eldridge said the move could include building private lines and substations to serve customers such as industrial plants, noting that he sees a "bottleneck" in the sector in Latin America's largest economy. ($1 = 5.6405 reais)
Trade Arabia
a day ago
- Business
- Trade Arabia
Brazil, Irena to co-host first global energy planning summit
The Government of Brazil and the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) will co-host the 1st edition of Energy Planning Summit which runs until June 4 at the BNDES Headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. The event will mark the official launch of the Global Coalition for Energy Planning (GCEP), a landmark initiative emerging from Brazil's 2024 G20 Presidency to help close the investment gap in the clean energy transition through improved energy planning, said the organisers. The Summit and the Coalition will contribute to building momentum ahead of COP30 in Brazil and other key global milestones, they stated. "Although significant investment opportunities exist in emerging markets and developing economies, perceived risks remain a key barrier to investment, particularly from private sources," said Irena Director General Francesco La Camera. "Brazil has demonstrated how long-term energy planning, which incorporates investment-ready strategies, can help reduce those risks, attract private capital, scale up renewables, and strengthen local supply chains," he stated. "As GCEP Secretariat, Irena will leverage its near-universal membership and extensive repository of best practices for renewable energy planning and modelling to support countries, particularly in the Global South, in developing energy strategies that align with national development and climate goals," observed Le Camera. Alexandre Silveira, Brazil's Minister of Mines and Energy, said: 'Promoting a just and effective energy transition necessarily requires recognizing the leadership of developing countries. By advancing the Global Coalition for Energy Planning, Brazil reaffirms its commitment to multilateral dialogue and to strengthening tools that connect strategic planning, public policy, and financing mechanisms in support of a more inclusive and sustainable energy future.' This high-level event will bring together senior officials from energy planning and finance ministries in a structured dialogue to establish a new global platform for cooperation. Expected outcomes include agreement on priority workstreams, a roadmap for thematic coordination, and an initial mapping of partners ready to collaborate, said the organisers. By demonstrating how robust planning can reduce risks and unlock investment, the Summit aims to strengthen political commitment to use energy planning as a strategic tool to inform national and international development strategies.
Zawya
3 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Brazil and IRENA to host first Global Energy Planning Summit
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – The Government of Brazil and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) will co-host the 1st Energy Planning Summit on 3–4 June 2025 at the BNDES Headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. The event will mark the official launch of the Global Coalition for Energy Planning (GCEP), a landmark initiative emerging from Brazil's 2024 G20 Presidency to help close the investment gap in the clean energy transition through improved energy planning. The Summit and the Coalition will contribute to building momentum ahead of COP30 in Brazil and other key global milestones. 'Although significant investment opportunities exist in emerging markets and developing economies, perceived risks remain a key barrier to investment, particularly from private sources,' said IRENA Director General Francesco La Camera. 'Brazil has demonstrated how long-term energy planning, which incorporates investment-ready strategies, can help reduce those risks, attract private capital, scale up renewables, and strengthen local supply chains.' 'As GCEP Secretariat, IRENA will leverage its near-universal membership and extensive repository of best practices for renewable energy planning and modelling to support countries, particularly in the Global South, in developing energy strategies that align with national development and climate goals.' H.E. Alexandre Silveira, Brazil's Minister of Mines and Energy, said: 'Promoting a just and effective energy transition necessarily requires recognizing the leadership of developing countries. By advancing the Global Coalition for Energy Planning, Brazil reaffirms its commitment to multilateral dialogue and to strengthening tools that connect strategic planning, public policy, and financing mechanisms in support of a more inclusive and sustainable energy future.' This high-level event will bring together senior officials from energy planning and finance ministries in a structured dialogue to establish a new global platform for cooperation. Expected outcomes include agreement on priority workstreams, a roadmap for thematic coordination, and an initial mapping of partners ready to collaborate. By demonstrating how robust planning can reduce risks and unlock investment, the Summit aims to strengthen political commitment to use energy planning as a strategic tool to inform national and international development strategies. Founding members and partners will sign a Letter of Principles at the Summit, outlining the Coalition's shared vision and guiding priorities. Effective energy planning is central to ensure that energy policy meets national and regional energy needs. About the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) IRENA is the lead intergovernmental agency for the renewables-based energy transition in pursuit of a systemic change across the energy sectors. A global energy agency comprised of 169 countries and the EU, with 14 additional countries in accession, IRENA provides knowledge, technical assistance and capacity building, project and investment facilitation. The Agency enables international cooperation and partnerships to fight climate change and promote sustainable development, energy access, energy security and resilient economies and societies. Contact information: Nicole Bockstaller, Chief, Communications Officer, IRENA, nbockstaller@
Reuters
6 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Wartsila bets flexibility key for ethanol power generation in Brazil
SAO PAULO, May 29 (Reuters) - Finland's Wartsila( opens new tab is betting that a more nimble way to generate power with ethanol will prove viable in Brazil where similar efforts by major firms floundered a decade ago. Wartsila announced a partnership in March with a power plant in the northeast Brazilian city of Recife, where a four-megawatt engine will burn ethanol for 4,000 hours during a two-year pilot starting in April 2026. The Finnish company billed its efforts as a world-first trial in generating electricity with an ethanol-powered engine. But similar experiments by Brazilian corporate heavyweights Petrobras ( opens new tab and Vale ( opens new tab sputtered out amid high costs and low uptake, according to people who worked on those projects. Brazil is the world's second-largest producer of ethanol, after the United States, producing the biofuel largely from sugarcane and increasingly from corn. Brazil has used ethanol to power cars for decades, leading to volatile prices affected by sugar and petroleum markets. In 2010, Petrobras teamed up with General Electric, before the U.S. manufacturer split into three separate public companies, to convert a gas turbine at the state-run oil producer's power plant in Juiz De Fora to run on ethanol. "Ethanol was very sexy, everyone gets very hyped about it," a person with knowledge of the project told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The plant returned to running on natural gas shortly after the 1,000-hour test was completed, as higher costs made ethanol untenable as a fuel in the long run, the person added. Petrobras confirmed the turbine in Juiz De Fora now runs on natural gas. Vale Solucoes em Energia (VSE), a startup majority-owned by the mining giant, invested some $600 million in clean energy, including ethanol-powered electricity, VSE's former Chief Executive James Pessoa said in an interview. VSE built smaller ethanol-based generators for electricity which were used in Rio de Janeiro and Amazonas state, Pessoa said, adding that another was built at Brazil's Antarctic research station. VSE was shuttered by 2013. Pessoa said he had not seen any further development since then of ethanol-powered generators like those produced by VSE. "The technology exists," he said, adding that Brazil could have millions of heavy ethanol engines powering the country. "But in practical terms, there are zero (in operation)." Wartsila plans to test ethanol as a fuel for one of its 32M engines, which is larger than the VSE generators but far smaller than the plant converted by Petrobras, seeking efficiency at a more flexible scale. While running a turbine on ethanol 24-7 is more costly than natural gas, those plants cannot provide the flexibility needed by a grid like Brazil's, which is mostly powered by renewables, Jorge Alcaide, Wartsila's managing director in Brazil and head of its energy business in the southern America region, said in an interview. The engine will "follow the wind" and start up quickly when renewable sources like wind and solar fall off, said Alcaide. Wartsila declined to reveal its spending on the pilot. "Thermal power plants in Brazil should be used in the standby model," he said. "We need thermal to be available, it's like insurance."
Reuters
27-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Italy's Meloni says high energy prices are main economic challenge
ROME, May 27 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday said high energy costs are the most pressing economic issue for her administration. "The main issue we have to face ... are energy costs," Meloni told the annual assembly of business lobby Confindustria in the northern city of Bologna. Meloni said her government was conducting an assessment of the national energy market to determine whether high prices were also the result of speculation.
