Systemic approach for bioenergy policies : a study case Brazilian energy matrix and the sugarcane sector

Abstract

Energy consumption is correlated with the Human Development Index (HDI) and it tends to be higher in developing countries. However, 84.3% of the energy comes from non-renewable sources regarding the average global energy matrix in 2019. Therefore, the challenge is to sustainably improve energy supply. To do so, countries may rely on public policies as a tool to ensure adequate predictability and competitiveness of renewable energy sources. Renovabio is a Brazilian national biofuel policy that aims to reduce the national greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and to expand the use of biofuels. A constraint of this policy is that only biofuel producers and importers can benefit from it. Other energy sources, such as bioelectricity, are not directly approached. So, to show the opportunity if this policy included electricity, we analyzed its production for 10 years, in Brazil, to evaluate the growth rate of the share of non-renewables in its matrix. Then, Renovabio was explored to support the proposal of a systemic famework to support public policies aimed at a low-carbon economy. Finally, scenarios of bioelectricity production from Brazilian sugarcane mills were considered to estimate the contribution of this framework to the increase in renewability of the Brazilian electricity matrix and the consequent equivalence of carbon mitigated. he scenario with 50% of the sugarcane factories without cogeneration starting to cogenerate, with an additional 60% of sugarcane factories without biogas, starting to produce, presented the best results, with an additional electricity of 10.95 TWh supplied to the grid, increasing 1.7% the renewability level of the electricity matrix for 2021, 1.38% for 2035, and approximately 4,848 tons of mitigated CO2-eq per year.