Sao Paulo state to build 1st green hydrogen plant near Santos

Santos will soon have its first green hydrogen plant, which will also be the first in the state of Sao Paulo and the first entirely dedicated to the Brazilian market. It will be installed on the premises of the region-wide energy and water supply company Emae. The GH2 unit will produce hydrogen and ammonia for steel, petrochemical, and fertilizer companies, as well as the Port of Santos, in a decarbonization process that should take up to five years.

The announcement was made by businessman and economist Roberto Gianetti da Fonseca, who attended yesterday’s meeting on ESG held by the A Tribuna press association. The discussions focused on the relationship between good ESG practices (environmental, social, and governance) and Latin America’s largest port.

“We will provide hydrogen-based energy and electricity from renewable sources to anyone who wants it. For example, hydrogen will be used as fuel for automobiles. We are starting this project, and I hope that, in 2023, we will be able to say that the foundation stone has been laid out,” comments Gianetti. “The plant will work on solar energy during the day and hydroelectric power during night time,” added him.

Joint effort

Ricardo Arten, CEO of Brasil Terminal Portuário (BTP), defended the collaboration among port companies to expand the social actions already underway in each of them.

“When a company acts on conviction, it leads other terminals in the same direction. We noticed progress on E (environment) but also certain inaction in terms of S and G. It is critical for port operators to collaborate in an integrated manner, not with small projects, but coordinated action,” he emphasizes.

Marcelo Patrício, executive manager of port operations at Santos Brasil, understands that the State Union of Port Operators (Sopesp) can play this role. “It is important to have each company set small actions that can be combined and integrated,” he stresses.

Gustavo Valente, from Vinci Partners and director of the Maralto container terminal, recalls that the company’s terminal in Paraná had already been designed from an ESG perspective. “Brazil is lucky to have a very consistent renewable energy matrix,” he argues.

Environmental care entails public attention

Caring for the environment requires government assistance, but it can also be done efficiently and sustainably by the private sector by putting ESG concepts into practice. This is the case with the Açu port, one of the country’s largest infrastructure complexes in Rio de Janeiro.

According to the complex’s Port Administration director, Vinicius Patel, one of the examples of this integration with society is the conservation of sea turtles through the Tamar Project. “Environmental education has a transformative role.”

Concession contracts

Caroline Mayara, a representative of Infra S.A., a public company born from the merger of Valec Engenharia and Brazil’s planning and logistics company EPL, says that little was noted on the topic of climate change in the feasibility studies used to design concession contracts in the port sector. “We are working to include this topic in these projects because both public initiative and the private sector should deal with it.”

Ana Angélica Alabarce, head of Ibama (federal environmental agency) in the region, says there is great concern about improving the performance of port terminals. “We are doing very well in this aspect, as in the ballast water issue,” declared her.

Antônio Lawand, a lawyer and consultant, condemns the existing veto in the Ports Law on industrial production activities within the organized port area. “The legal framework, in theory, is opposed to the production of energy,” he laments.

Alexandre Gross, a specialist in Infrastructure, Climate, and Conservation at WWF Brazil, is adamant: “Adaptation to climate change is part of the sustainability agenda for corporate profit. However, we also have a responsibility to society.”

Source: A Tribuna

To read the full original article, please access: https://www.atribuna.com.br/noticias/portomar/baixada-santista-tera-primeira-usina-de-hidrogenio-verde-do-estado-de-sao-paulo

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