The country’s largest private sector energy company, acting in power generation, commercialization and transmission, gas transport, as well as energy and infrastructure solutions in Brazil, ENGIE is to launch on May 21 in the Solutions blog (link) the ENGIE and Agribusiness series, which includes videos, articles and interviews on themes such as energy generation and technology linked to this sector.

In addition to ENGIE’s specialists in agribusiness, the series will also include the analysis and comments of representatives of companies and partner institutions such as the Brazilian Agricultural and Ranching Confederation – Confederação da Agricultura e Pecuária do Brasil (CNA), the International Center for Renewable Energy – Centro Internacional de Energias Renováveis (CIBiogás), Agriness and Pink Farms, the first urban vertical farm in Latin America.

“We provide inputs so that the rural producer is able to establish his strategies and prepare for new tendencies in the sector”, declares Charles Bispo, Regional Manager and Specialist in Agribusiness for the Energy Market at ENGIE Brasil.

“The agricultural sector has great potential for generating energy and a highly diverse selection of productive chains, production systems and property sizes, all of which translates into an enormous variety of opportunities for generating renewable power ranging from the harnessing of waste to the use of modern photovoltaic solar systems. There are innumerous gains for reducing costs, improving quality or, in certain specific cases, commercialization as an alternative source of income”, says Maciel Silva, Agricultural Production Coordinator at the CNA, which is to present the video “Opportunities for the generation of energy in Agribusiness”.

“The more isolated rural producers used to depend on the concessionaire alone for installing quality supply networks. Since 2008, other technologies have been developed and now we can draw on, for example, hybrid systems able to generate energy using photovoltaic systems during the day and at night, diesel or other sources of dispatchable energy such as biogas”, says Nicolas Lazzaretti Berhorst, Biogas Market Analyst at CIBiogás, which is to present the. “New tendencies in energy generation technology for Agribusiness” video.

VIDEOS

Videos available in ENGIE’s content series are as follows:
*Opportunities in energy generation in Agribusiness
*New tendencies in energy generation technology for Agribusiness
*Agro 4.0
*Urban Farms – The vertical farm revolution

ENGIE AND AGRIBUSINESS
ENGIE is one of the first companies in the Brazilian energy sector to be registered with the Ministry for Agrarian Development (MDA) as supplier of photovoltaic systems qualifying for financing family farmers. Registration of a product eligible for financing by the MDA requires certain qualifications such as adequate pricing, product nationalization and filiation of the company to the Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Energy (ABSolar), all requirements with which the company has complied.
“Solar power is a readily available and viable resource for driving Brazilian agribusiness even more”, says Leonardo Serpa, managing director of ENGIE Brasil Soluções. “ENGIE’s receipt of the MDA code brings rural producers even closer to this energy resource since they can count on favorable conditions of finance to acquire the systems”, he concludes.
With more than 2 thousand solar generation systems installed in Brazil, ENGIE is one of the leading suppliers of photovoltaic systems nationally and enjoys the support of qualified partners. The Company supplies systems to all branches of agribusiness and to companies of different sizes.
Investments in a photovoltaic solar generation system is attractive to rural producers because with the financing alternatives available, the discount received on the monthly energy bill for the property generating its own energy is equivalent to the value of the installment payable on the financing. Thus, the saving on the electric light bill is used to pay off the loan installments. And when the loan is finally settled, the producer will have received electric energy practically free of charge since the solar panels themselves incur low maintenance costs and generate power for 25 years.