Over the past few days, we visited various energy-related sites where we were able to learn new information about renewable technologies and see things that we’ve already been learned over the past two weeks in action.
On Tuesday, we visited CPFL Energia, which is the third largest private company that generates and distributes electric energy in Brazil. It's located in Campinas, which is an hour and a half away from Sao Paulo city.
As soon as we got there, we went to a conference room where an employee of this company gave a very descriptive presentation about the company and their projects and goals. He focused mainly on their Tanquinho project, which was named after the place where it is located. Tanquinho is the first solar power plant in Sao Paulo and the one with the biggest capacity in all of Brazil (1.1 MWp). Solar power technology is expanding in Brazil, which is why this company decided to invest in this project. In Tanquinho, CPFL is testing out two types of materials to make solar panels. One made with amorphous silicon and the other with monocrystalline silicon. Moreover, they are also testing out its efficiency by having both stationary and tracking panels. While the stationary panels obviously stay in the same position, the tracking panels are connected to a motor that lets them adjust their angle according to the sun’s position. They are programmed to turn on early every single morning, and when they are turned off, they remain in a flat position.
As you might have noticed, all these things I stated before are proof that this technology is still in development. Also, the person who was giving the presentation mentioned that this technology is so new to Brazil that while developing the Tanquinho project, they had trouble with the paperwork because there weren’t even laws or policies made specifically for what they were doing. For instance, one of those things was supply chain. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any policies that support these technologies. The Brazilian government is in fact promoting the expansion of this type of technology through policies that intend to reduce carbon emissions and increase the investment in renewable sources. Naturally, the aim of this company, besides looking for alternative methods to produce electricity, is also to find the technology that is most efficient and that produces the least amount of damage to the environment.
I’m definitely looking forward to see what the future will bring to this company. Though, since they are still in a developing stage for this project, it’s hard to tell how economically profitable it will be for them, and what its environmental impact will be. In the U. S., this technology exists, but in an even smaller scale. I definitely learned new things thanks to this visit like the tracking panels mechanisms and the materials used to make the panels.
On the same day, we visited a company named Bosch, which is a German-based company with offices all around the world. They focus in three areas: Automotive, industrial and consumer goods. Since we are studying alternative technologies, we were more interested in the automotive sector of this company considering that this company is one of the largest manufactures of flex engines in Brazil. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see how they manufacture this type of engines. Nonetheless, we were able to see the whole testing process for the flex engines. Honestly, before going there, I didn’t know much about flex engines and their manufacturing process. Thankfully, we saw different stages of the testing process. For instance, they have these temperature-controlled chambers where they tested the engines. Depending on the size of the car and where the car is going to be sold, they have to adjust the temperature of the room. Moreover, we saw a room where they connect the engine to a machine that tests the car’s efficiency and its levels of chemical components. Lastly, we saw a room where they had a simulator connected to a car. That way, they could test the engine’s acceleration and overall performance.
It was interesting to see that this company manufactures flex engines for different car companies. Though, I found out that they get assigned only certain models. Furthermore, I have to point out the fact that more than 90% of the vehicles in Brazil have flex engines, thereby, ethanol is considered a profitable technology is this country, and not only that, this technology is going to keep growing thanks to all the exist policies here in Brazil that promote the increase on ethanol production made out of sugarcane and bagasse. In contrast, although 40% of the vehicles in the U. S. have flex engines, the market for this type of engines is still considerably smaller compared to the one in Brazil. First, people who have flex engines on their cars don’t even know it, and secondly, only a tiny percent of the gas stations in the U. S. offer ethanol, which makes nearly impossible for people in the U. S. to obtain this type of fuel.
In my opinion, even though the net carbon emissions for ethanol are less than the ones from fossil fuels, ethanol is still pricy and is less efficient than gasoline. Though, I think that companies like Bosch have succeeded in making this an environmentally friendly and profitable temporary solution. Consequently, it will be interesting to see what Bosh and other companies in this field will come up with regarding this type of technologies and other alternative energy solutions.
On Wednesday, we visited an expo about alternative energies called EnerSolar, There, we had to do some sort of scavenger’s hunt where we had to talk to different manufactures and find out about the technologies and the products they offered. Although I really enjoyed it, I thought than the conference wasn’t diverse enough because most of the expositors offered solar power-related products only, which made it a bit frustrating when trying to learn about other types of renewable technologies like wind or biofuels.
On Thursday, which was my favorite day of the week, we visited a hydroelectric plant. The name of the plant is Usina Henry Borden and it’s the oldest hydroelectric plant in all Brazil. This pant is located an hour away from Sao Paulo City in a town called Cubatão. It’s impressive that it was designed in the 1920’s and it’s still functioning and efficient. I think this is what engineering is all about. Designing something right the first time so that it lasts forever, or at least for a really long time.
An employee form the plant showed us scale models of the turbines and gave us a tour around the complex. We learned about how the system works and how most of the water they use comes from the natural course of rivers, which means they didn’t have to build dams like in the U. S. where hydroelectric plants depend on them (like the Hover dam). I think their system is way more efficient due to the fact that they rely on potential energy from the height of the water drop, which minimizes the usage of water. Thanks to that, I learned that plants produce more energy with less water and more potential energy than with more water and less potential energy. In this particular case, this plant has a drop of 720 meters and it generates 890 MW, which makes it able to supply 80% of the electricity in Sao Paulo.
It’s safe to say that this is still the most efficient and cleanest technology in Brazil. Although it was not built for environmental purposes, Usina Henry Borden was designed to have the least effect on the natural pattern of the environment. Nevertheless, building a new hydroelectric plants cost a lot of money and can brings other problems like the relocation of people who live in the area, which can bring along a lot of problems and complications. Fortunately, there are policies that control all these process so that the social as well as the environmental impact is as small as possible.
Overall, I think this has been the best week of this program. Now, I feel more eager to learn about energy and to research more about renewable energy solutions.
