Energy generated from sugarcane has grown by 5.5% in one year. Data are from the Brazilian Energy Review - Exercise of 2019, released on Monday (20) by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME). According to the survey, ethanol and power generation from sugarcane waste accounted for approximately 53 million TEP (tons of oil equivalent) of the Internal Energy Offer (OIE) in the country, equivalent to 18% of the total energy supply in 2019 (increase of 5.5% or 0.6 percentage point in relation to 2018).

In 2019, the Internal Energy Supply in Brazil was 294 million TEP, growth of 1.4% compared to 2018, about 2% of the world supply. The survey also reveals that the performance of sugarcane products contributed to the share of renewable energy from 45.5% (2018) to 46.1% (2019) in the Brazilian energy matrix.

According to Antônio de Padua Rodrigues, technical director of the Sugarcane Industry Union (UNICA), the data reveal that Brazil continues to strive to increase the predominance of renewables in its energy matrix in relation to the world, which has an average proportion of only 14.2% of renewables in the OIE.

Ethanol 

According to the director, Brazil and the world want to decarbonize their energy sources and ethanol has great potential to help with this demand for sustainability and guarantee of supply. "In this line, it is worth mentioning RenovaBio as the world's largest decarbonization program, based on biofuels, being a fundamental initiative to meet the sustainability commitments assumed internationally by Brazil, as well as to promote the adequate expansion of production and use biofuels in the country, with greater predictability for the national renewable fuel chain ".

Bioelectricity 

With regard to electricity generation, the sugar-energy sector also contributes to a unique and positive profile of Brazil in relation to the use of bioelectricity in the world. In 2019, while in Brazil bioelectricity with solid biomass represented 8.4% of participation in the internal supply of electric energy, in the world average this participation was only 2.1%.

Last year, total electricity generation from solid biomass was 54,684 GWh, with sugarcane biomass accounting for 36,827 GWh (67.3% of the total bioelectricity produced in the country). Solid biomass includes biogas, firewood, bleach, rice husks, wood and sugar cane residues.

Currently, according to Zilmar Souza, bioelectricity manager at UNICA, Brazil uses only 15% of the potential for electricity generation by the sugar-energy sector. "We have to take advantage of the discussion around the modernization of the electric sector and properly value the attributes of bioelectricity and biogas in regulated auctions of electric energy, such as its renewable, non-intermittent generation, close to the consumption centers and complementing the water source, among other externalities, which would stimulate more generation projects, also in line with the progress of RenovaBio and integrating energy policies ", evaluates Souza.