The governor of the state, Renato Casagrande, met, this Wednesday (23), with the CEO of the Espírito Santo Gas Company (ES Gás), Heber Resende, at Palácio Anchieta, in Vitória. On that occasion, the company announced the beginning of the first of a series of steps to execute the main investment foreseen in its Business Plan: the interconnection of the Linhares Distribution Network to the “Cacimbas-Vitória” Transport Gas Pipeline, which will provide for the expansion supply capacity to the municipality in the north of the state.

Budgeted at R$ 40 million, the investment will provide the Linhares network with a gas pipeline supply system, replacing the operation carried out by means of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) trucks, currently limited to 40,000 cubic meters per day. ES Gás is a mixed capital company in which the State of Espírito Santo holds 51% of the voting capital, with BR Distribuidora as a partner, with the remaining 49%.

“This is an important record for Espírito Santo with the construction of this gas pipeline linking Regência to Bebedouro, in Linhares. Local industries are now supplied by truck and will start receiving gas through a pipeline, increasing their supply capacity by up to nine times. An investment that will generate more productive capacity, more opportunities and development for the people of Espírito Santo”, said Governor Casagrande.

The investment is motivated both by the increase in consumption, resulting from the new industrial plants in the municipality, and by the improvement of the operation, with the increase in safety and the reduction of operating costs related to the compression, transport and decompression of natural gas.

“The investment will allow the distribution network to be expanded, through the construction of 28 kilometers of network, in an estimated execution period of 12 months. Thus, we will be able to reach a supply capacity of 360,000 cubic meters per day and a reduction in the movement of six trucks, which together make 240 monthly round trips in a 63 km route”, explained the CEO of ES Gás, Heber Resende.

The Secretary of State for Innovation and Development, Tyago Hoffmann, highlighted that the investment is seen as a positive action for regional economic development.

“The municipality of Linhares is attractive due to its strategic location and is located in the Sudene region (Northeast Development Superintendence), where federal and state tax incentives such as Invest-ES and Compete-ES apply. Fibracem, Proteinorte, Brinox, Olam International. Britânia and Café Cacique are companies that elected the municipality to host new industrial plants and to attract new organizations, we used an active prospecting model, at the request of our governor Renato Casagrande, to intensify the attraction of new organizations and create a favorable environment for the generation of jobs and income for the capixabas”, said Hoffmann.

The efficiency gain resulting from this investment is highlighted by the Company's Operations Director, Frederico Bichara: “We will eliminate the compression, road transport and decompression stages for the Linhares network, mitigate the costs levied on the provision of the operation and transport service of CNG to the municipality and reduce the possibility of shortages due to bad weather or road accidents”, he justified.

In this way, ES Gás fulfills the primary investment objectives of expanding the natural gas supply capacity in Linhares, meeting the demand of new industries, in addition to increasing the reliability of the distribution system and operating efficiency.

The layout of the new 28.4 km gas pipeline will take place in a predominantly rural area. The project is licensed by the Institute for the Environment and Water Resources (Iema) and was approved in the instances provided for by the ES Gás Governance, and now meets the schedule that includes eight more stages, ranging from the bidding of materials, continuing with the construction and assembly services event and conclude with the commissioning and start of operation, scheduled for September 2022.

The Linhares project is part of ES Gás's investment plan, which foresees investments in the order of R$300 million over the next 10 years, with the objective of expanding the distribution network by more than 292,000 meters and connecting more than 96,000 new ones. consumers, in addition to maintaining an excellent operation, in the search for greater energy competitiveness.