At least 24% of the energy produced in Roraima is supplied by biofuel generated by thermoelectric plants located in five municipalities in the state. Outside the National Integrated System (SIN), the state's 15 municipalities are predominantly supplied by thermoelectric plants run by the company Roraima Energia.
Capable of powering the homes of 40,600 of the 166,000 consumers served by Roraima Energia, the bioenergy generated in the state comes from seven plants that produce biofuel from wood waste, known as chips, vegetable oils and palm oil waste, extracted from the oil palm plant.
This is the context in which the company Brasil BioFuels, from Grupo BBF, operates. Located in São João da Baliza, in the south of Roraima, the company has been extracting palm oil for 15 years.
g1 visited the company to understand the complete palm cycle involved in the operation: planting, harvesting, crushing the fruit, producing biofuel and generating clean electricity for consumers in Roraima.
In addition to the 24% of energy from biofuels, the rest of Roraima's supply is generated by diesel oil from 14 thermoelectric plants, which is considered expensive and polluting to the environment. The data comes from Roraima Energia, which is responsible for all of the state's electricity generation, including biofuel.
In all, grupo BBF has more than 15,000 hectares of palm plantations in the state. According to the group's industrial director, Cláudio Cavalcante, the group sends 14 megawatts of energy a day to Roraima Energia - this is where the supply to consumers comes from.
Every day, the company extracts oil from more than 300 tons of oil palm material.
"To produce this energy, we use a variety of palm oil materials, such as fibers, shells, nuts and straw, totaling around 300 tons a day," he said.
The energy produced by the plants is generally injected into Roraima's electricity system, without being directed to specific customers or groups, according to Roraima Energia.
In total, Roraima Energia serves the entire state, a total of 207,891 consumers.
Grupo BBF is responsible for planting, extracting and producing the energy in a process that involves almost a thousand employees, including migrant women who work directly on the plantation. From planting to harvesting, everything is divided into stages.
The oil palm seed is sourced from other countries. In Roraima, it is planted in a 5,000-hectare site called a pre-pond, which is protected for the seed to germinate. Then, at the seedling stage, it is transported to the nursery on a site that covers 45 hectares.
After that, the plant is placed in an area of 15,000 hectares where it should produce fruit for more than 30 years. The whole process is run by the company's agricultural manager, Bruno Barcelos, 37. He has been working with oil palm for 13 years, three of them in Roraima.
All oil palm cultivation, according to Bruno, is done by hand and produces an average of five to six tons of oil per hectare.
"The soil is decompressed to allow the roots to grow properly. We also nourish the holes where the seedlings will be planted. Harvesting is done manually throughout the year. We only cut the ripe bunches, which are visually identified, in continuous 12-day cycles."
Once all the material has been harvested, Claudio begins the industrial part. According to him, the fruit is threshed, macerated and then pressed to extract the palm oil. Before this, sterilization takes place, which lasts an hour and a half, while the following stages take around 30 minutes, making a total of two hours to extract the oil.
"After extraction, the oil goes through a clarification process and is classified before being used as fuel."
"The use of this oil as an energy source is advantageous due to its ability to be used immediately after extraction, contributing to the production of clean energy," explains the director.
In addition, all the products derived from palm oil, including the oil, are used. The pulp is used as animal feed, the fiber is burned in the boiler to produce electricity, and the waste is used as biomass.
"Since 2018 the oil industry has been in operation, with energy generation starting in 2023."
There is an agreement between the biofuel production plants and Roraima Energia. According to Claudio, the oil produced by BBF is delivered to Roraima Energia, which distributes it to consumers under a contract signed with the Federal Government.
"The amount paid for the energy is determined by a contract established in auctions, and the tariff offered is accepted by the company, guaranteeing the generation and payment of the energy produced."
The energy supplied by the generators at Roraima Energia, which use biofuel/biomass as their generation source, is distributed to the subsystem to which they are connected, i.e. the Boa Vista subsystem, which has a total of 199,410 consumer units.
Roraima's bioenergy is supplied by the following thermal power plants:
The Amazon Network Foundation's project, Amazônia Que eu Quero, has reached another season and its theme is the bioeconomy. Last week, the CEO of the Rede Amazônica Group, Phelippe Daou Jr, visited the BBF plant in the south of Roraima, hoping to close partnerships...
"There is great potential for growth in the Roraima region, which was previously underutilized, and we are committed to promoting partnerships to boost the state's development, guaranteeing legal certainty in operations such as this," said the CEO, while getting to know the company's operations.
Roraima is the only state in the country that is not connected to the National Interconnected System (SIN) and, for years, depended on energy supplied by Venezuela. However, the country stopped sending energy to the state in March 2019 and, since then, the work has been done by four Roraima Energia thermoelectric plants.
The state's thermal park is made up of the Monte Cristo thermoelectric plants, in the rural area of Boa Vista, Jardim Floresta and Distrito, both in the west, and Novo Paraíso, in Caracaraí, in the south of the state.
Currently, two turbines at the Jaguatirica II Thermoelectric Plant are already in operation and are helping to reduce consumption at the Monte Cristo thermoelectric plant, which runs on diesel oil.
The 715 km Tucuruí Linhão is seen as the end of electrical isolation and constant blackouts. The start of the project has been the focus of a standoff for 11 years, as 122 km of towers will cross the Waimiri Atroari reserve.
Without imported energy, the cost of supplying the state with electricity is R$8 billion a year - a bill that is shared between all the country's electricity consumers. And to reverse this situation, the solution is to build the Tucuruí Lignon.
Check out the full article on the G1 portal: https: //g1.globo.com/rr/roraima/noticia/2024/05/13/fora-do-sistema-nacional-roraima-tem-ao-menos-24percent-da-energia-produzida-por-biocombustivel.ghtml
