BBF inaugurates hybrid power plant in Roraima Hybrid thermal power plant located in São João da Baliza uses vegetable oil and palm biomass and has the capacity to generate 17.9 MW By Fábio Couto- From Rio
Brasil BioFuels (BBF) has inaugurated the first phase of its hybrid power plant in São João da Baliza, in the state of Roraima. The plant has an installed capacity of 17.9 MW, divided into two generating units, has invested R$ 166 million and is the first in the country to combine vegetable oil and biomass. The inputs are obtained from the processing of palm oil.
The plant was made possible in the first energy auction of the isolated systems, held by the government in 2019 to supply energy to Boa Vista and the surrounding area of the state capital, the only one not yet interconnected to the Brazilian electrical system. Roraima still awaits the construction of a transmission line that will start from Manaus and which faces impasses in environmental licensing. "We know the potential, that is why we made a renewable and independent energy generation project feasible, with the resources of the region itself," said Milton Steagall, president of BBF.
Roraima was relying on imported power from a Venezuelan hydroelectric plant, complemented by diesel-fired thermoelectric generation. As Venezuela had suspended the supply of electricity to the state, the government held the auction three years ago, the first exclusive for isolated systems, in order to supply the state's energy needs with renewable generation, instead of thermal plants, polluting, with high fuel costs and risks to energy security - the fuel is transported by trucks, subject to road conditions and even eventualities, with the truckers' strike.
One of the main players in the biofuel market, BBF is betting on the modality to optimize the use of palm, one of the raw materials for the production of vegetable oil. The company estimates that the plant will avoid the consumption of 43 million liters of diesel oil per year in the state and the emission of about 100 thousand tons of carbon in the atmosphere. By becoming a vegetable oil producer and entering the thermoelectric generation market, BBF adopted a vertical business model, in which it produces the raw material, transforms it into fuel, and supplies the thermoelectric plants, without depending on suppliers. The strategy protects the company from variations in fuel prices.
The hybrid thermoelectric plant, by the way, is located in the same city in which the company started operations, with palm planting, in 2008, and where it maintains its headquarters. "With this new thermoelectric plant, we will have the complete cycle in our operation: we plant, harvest, crush the fruit, produce biofuels and generate electricity and, from now on, we will transform the resulting biomass into energy and dispose of part of the waste from our operation in an adequate and productive manner. It is a completely sustainable model," said Steagall. The production of the biofuel and the processing of the biomass will demand 80 direct jobs.
BBF has a fleet of 38 thermoelectric power plants located in the states of Amazonas, Acre, Rondônia, and Roraima, 25 of which are in operation, including São João da Baliza, and another 13 under implementation, totaling 177 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity.
To meet the demand of the plants, BBF has a cultivated area of around68,000 hectares, a large part of this area located in Pará, producing approximately 200,000 tons of vegetable oil per year. Besides the thermoelectric plants, BBF has four crushing units, three for palm and one for soy, and a biodiesel industry.
In addition to these businesses, BBF is looking at the production of green diesel (hydrotreated vegetable oil, HVO) and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Both biofuels will be produced in a biorefinery under construction in the Manaus Free Trade Zone, in partnership with Vibra Energia, which will be responsible for marketing the products.
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