Brazilian and German Energy Partnership

published on 29th February 2024

On March 13^th of 2023, the Brazilian Minister for Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, and the German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck, signed the document that reasserted the Energy Partnership between the two countries. This collaboration seeks to develop the energy sector in both countries, looking to strengthen the energy security and to promote the energy transition reducing the production of greenhouse gases.

The German representative highlighted that counting on the Brazilian players to export to Germany Green Hydrogen is key to the country's initiative „H2 Global”. The minister Habeck also pointed out to the Brazilian important advantage that is his tremendous potential to generate renewable energy, and thus the big expectations that come from the partnership.

The partnership also counts with a Green Hydrogen Working Group, which has three task forces: production, logistic and application. Within the scope of the group, the countries share information about advances in research and in the development of projects of Green Hydrogen.

In addition, the partnership also serves as a platform between Brazil and Germany, as it seeks to promote the dialogue between relevant institutions from both countries. In this matter, the partnership also works as a bridge connecting politics and business, facilitating the stakeholders to access key players and promoting high level political dialogues.

First Green Hydrogen molecule produced in Brazil.

Brazil had its first Green Hydrogen molecule produced in the country on January of 2023, at the „Pecém Thermoelectric Complex (UTE Pecém)”, in São Gonçalo do Amarante, Ceará.

It is important to bear in mind that the North-East of the country is the main region where Green Hydrogen production projects are concentrated, as it is a region rich in renewable energy production and water availability.

Another project also being developed in the North-East of the country, in this case the Camaçari Petrochemical Complex in Bahia, is by Unigel, which also announced new investments related to the country's industrial-scale project in January this year. The amount was the equivalent of R$7.28 billion (US$1.5 billion).

In addition, the Green Hydrogen projects under development in Brazil total more than US$30 billion (approximately R$150 billion).

Brazil continues to make progress in the race to produce green hydrogen and has already started producing the fuel in the country

A research laboratory was set up at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) on August 25th this year. Due to the partnership between the University and the German government (which has invested around R$14 million in scientific and technological cooperation. The laboratory captures rainwater from the site and energy produced from the building's solar panels to produce the fuel.

In this sense, it is important to have in mind that the main feature of the process is the electrolysis of water, which separates hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) from water (H20).

The laboratory's electrolyzer has 25kW of power, meaning that in 2 hours and 30 minutes it could produce the equivalent of 1kg of Green Hydrogen. That, using 10 liters of water and 60kWh of (photovoltaic) energy produced in the same building, as mentioned above.

It's important to emphasize that this production is taking place in a research laboratory and not in a plant that would run day and night, but it's still very important because it shows how advanced the research is, bringing the country closer to a massive production of this fuel that can be transformative when it comes to renewable fuels.

According to the project's responsible Professor, the aim is also to test local production to replicate it in specific regions of the Amazon - the country's Northern region with an abundance of rainfall and lots of sunshine - and thus promote the decarbonization of the area by replacing the use of diesel with green hydrogen, a 100% renewable fuel. If possible, such production in these regions would also help the country's budget, which currently spends around R$ 12 billion a year subsidizing diesel to serve riverside communities.

In addition, the laboratory will also produce Ammonia – which is also used in the production of Green Hydrogen.