Brazil is undertaking a major biofuels experiment that could be majorly disruptive for the global energy landscape if it proves effective. The South American country is filthy rich in biomass, and is seeking to use ethanol in novel applications – in this case, to power the energy grid. A new ethanol-powered engine designed specifically to provide electricity to the grid was just launched at the Suape II power plant in Pernambuco, in a world first.
Brazilian energy company Suape Energia has partnered with Finnish technology firm Wärtsilä to develop the engine, a pilot model which will test whether or not the technology is viable in real-world conditions. The testing will be extensive, providing thousands of hours of data over the coming years that will tell the researchers a lot about the approach’s performance, sustainability, and economic viability.
The engine will run on ethanol sourced primarily from sugarcane grown in Brazil. Brazil is the top producer as well as the top consumer of sugarcane-derived ethanol in the world, and finding a way to convert it into usable and affordable electricity would be a major win for the nation’s energy autonomy and security. Typically, this ethanol is used to power vehicles. Using it in grid applications is a novel and potentially majorly disruptive approach.
“Brazil is a world leader in ethanol production, but its potential use in electricity generation has up to now been overlooked,” said José Faustino Cândido, the technical director of Suape Energia.
This innovation comes at a time of broad experimentation with ethanol in Brazilian markets. “A new wave of biofuel innovation is sweeping the nation,” Reuters reported this week.
Brazil’s ethanol sector is huge, representing around USD $20 billion. It’s the second largest ethanol industry in the world, behind the United States. The country has been a longtime champion of “flex-fuel” cars able to run on a mandatory blend of at least 30 percent ethanol, and up to 100 percent ethanol. This policy has helped to shield Brazilian consumers from the current oil and gas prices that are causing so much pain at petrol pumps around the world.
While Brazil is “uniquely positioned” to test out this technology thanks to its robust ethanol supply chains and infrastructure, the ramifications of this test extend far beyond the Brazilian context. According to a recent report from Interesting Engineering, “the project’s developers hope to show that ethanol can provide a source of dispatchable power, electricity that can be generated on demand, at a time when many countries are seeking ways to complement intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.”
This new domestic use for ethanol also comes at a politically fortuitous time for Brazil, as the United States proposed a 25 percent tariff on Brazilian ethanol just this week. On June 1, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released a report finding that “Brazil’s acts, policies and practices with respect to ethanol market access are unreasonable and burden or restrict U.S. commerce.” In other words, the federal government conducted an investigation into Brazil’s ethanol trade policies and determined that they have unfairly disadvantaged the United States and other trading partners by unduly restricting the market.
But while Brazil is leaning more heavily than ever into biofuels, the United States is in turmoil over how to regulate ethanol on its own soil. The Republican party is sharply divided over biofuels quotas of the kind that have benefitted Brazil during this latest oil price shock. Last month the House narrowly passed a bill to codify year-round sales of E15 ethanol fuel with a 15 percent ethanol blend in a major win for the corn lobby and for agricultural states. The bill will now have to go through the Senate, where its future is uncertain.
By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com
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