Gustavo Labanca, CEO da TAG e membro do Comitê Executivo da ENGIE Brasil, diz que armazenamento reforça flexibilidade na geração de energia e permite melhor suprimento a térmicas, complementando fontes renováveis.

TAG CEO Gustavo Labanca defended on Wednesday (4/8) that Brazil creates a regulatory framework for natural gas storage activity, an important segment in the development and opening of the natural gas market in the country. TAG is controlled by the ENGIE group, which has one of its main business lines in gas infrastructure.

The stockpiling will allow greater integration with the electricity sector and reinforce the supply to thermoelectric plants, which are necessary for greater flexibility of the power generation system, says Labanca, who made a presentation at Rio Pipeline, an event of the Brazilian Petroleum Institute, Gas and Biofuels (IBP).

This is because, according to Labanca, pre-salt gas production is continuous and is associated with oil, without the possibility of being interrupted. Already the thermals come into operation in order to complement the intermittent renewable sources, whose energy generation is not constant, such as solar, wind and hydroelectric.

To promote gas storage, says the executive, regulation is needed to gain access to information from fully exploited oil and gas fields - depleted, in technical language. "There is great potential, especially in onshore fields in the Northeast and Espírito Santo. Holy, but investors need access to geological data on these depleted reservoirs to identify if they are appropriate for storage.Stored gas can be used for thermal generation in periods of less availability from renewable sources, aiding in the planning of the electricity sector. , including the issue of costs, "said Labanca.

TAG's CEO also stressed that ENGIE's investments in the gas segment are in line with the company's pillar of being a global leader in the energy transition to a low carbon economy and reinforced its international experience in this market. "We are contributing a lot in the debate about opening up the gas market. We operate a network of about 37,000 km in the world. It is more than triple the Brazilian grid, about 9,000 km in Brazil. The figures show how much the country has yet to invest in expanding its network, "he said.

ENGIE was responsible for an important milestone in the opening of the Brazilian gas sector, acquiring from Petrobras TAG, for R $ 33.2 billion, in consortium with global institutional investor CDPQ. ENGIE has 58.5% of assets; CDPQ, 31.5%; and Petrobras maintained a 10% stake.

Labanca said ENGIE is interested, in addition to the stocking business, in the distribution of natural gas, a branch in which it is one of the world leaders.

The executive also presented the group's other businesses in Brazil, the second most relevant country in ENGIE's operating results in the world. Labanca highlighted investments in power generation and transmission and customer solutions - street lighting, urban mobility, distributed solar generation, energy efficiency, among others.

About ENGIE - ENGIE Brazil is the largest private power producer in Brazil, with its own installed capacity of 10,211MW in 61 plants, representing about 6% of the country's capacity. The company has almost 90% of its installed capacity in the country from renewable sources and low GHG emissions, such as hydroelectric, wind, solar and biomass plants.

With the acquisition of TAG, ENGIE is now also the holder of the country's largest 4,500 km natural gas transmission network.

In addition, the Group operates in Brazil in the commercialization of energy in the free market and is among the largest companies in distributed photovoltaic generation. The company also has a complete portfolio of integrated solutions responsible for reducing costs and improving infrastructure for businesses and cities, such as energy efficiency, energy monitoring and management, electricity supply contract management, street lighting, HVAC systems, telecommunication, security. and urban mobility. With 2,300 employees, ENGIE had in the country in 2018 a turnover of r $ 9.3 billion.