Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras said Friday it is looking for partners for new offshore wind power projects and other renewable sources.
“Our appetite for offshore wind power is total. We are talking with other companies,” Mauricio Tomalsquim, director of Petrobras Energy Transition, said in a teleconference with investors.
The executive added that the talks for the adhesion of new partners are not limited to floating wind farms, but also to other technologies and renewable sources, such as green hydrogen.
“Our priority is to develop these projects in association with other companies for various reasons, among them because it reduces the amount of investment committed, allows risk sharing and also sharing experiences,” he said.
Since Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva assumed his third term as Brazil’s president last January, the company, controlled by the state but with shares traded on the stock exchange, has announced the start of an ambitious energy transition process.
Although the oil giant does not plan to abandon its main assets or hydrocarbon exploration, it will increasingly invest in renewables, mainly offshore wind, in which it has logistical advantages as a major deepwater oil producer. .
One of the first steps in this strategy was the signing in March of an agreement with Equinor for the installation of seven offshore wind farms in Brazil with a combined capacity to generate 14.5 gigawatts (GW) of energy, practically the same as hydroelectric Itaipu (14 GW), the largest power generator in the Americas in its segment.
“The partnership with Equinor is in its infancy. We have already applied for licenses to develop the parks, but we are still waiting for the definition of the regulatory framework,” said Tomalsquim.
Despite studies indicating that Brazil has the potential to produce up to 697 GW in marine areas up to 50 meters deep, the Government has not regulated the legal framework for this sector, scheduled for next June.
“We depend on the regulation of the legal framework to start the analysis of technical and economic feasibility. We are in a very initial process”, concluded the director.
Source: TSF
