July 26 - meeting with the secretary of energy

Today's meeting with Sao Paulo's secretary of energy and mining was a highly enriching experience.  We were provided with a rare opportunity to meet with some Brazilian policy makers who have the authority and the ability to be real difference makers.  I was amazed and impressed that three undersecretaries of renewable energy were so generous with their time with us.  This was an especially valuable experience for me given my previous co-op experience working in public policy.  This was a field in which I definitely felt a bit more comfortable compared to some of the more technical details covered on our previous visits to power plants.  Overall, this may have been my favorite visit of the Dialogue.

There were many interesting tidbits in the secretariat's presentation to our group, and I look forward to taking a closer look at the report they handed us.  Having said that, what stood out to me the most was the degree to which Brazil, and particularly the state of Sao Paulo, have committed to renewable energy sources compared to the rest of the world.  The differences are truly striking.  The slide discussing the 2015 energy matrix really drove the point home: Brazil derives 41.2 percent of its energy from renewable sources and Sao Paulo gets 58 percent from renewables, compared with just 14.3 percent renewables for the rest of the world.

These numbers make it abundantly clear that Brazil and Sao Paulo are on a completely different level from the rest of the world when it comes to commitment to renewable energy sources.  When I asked the undersecretary what qualities Brazil had that made it possible for the country to get so far ahead, he talked about the considerable hydroelectric resources that Brazil took advantage of early on.  He also talked about Brazil's huge sugar cane crop, and his agency's plans to implement more and more biomass energy production from sugar cane in the coming years as part of the effort to continue to increase Brazil's commitment to renewables.

While Brazil's available resources are obviously important to the discussion of why and how the country has made such an impressive commitment to renewables, but I don't think they tell the full story.  A key ingredient has been the country's political will and commitment to the cause.  Agencies like the Sao Paulo office of energy and mining have played a key role with policies such as the offering of incentives to private businesses that invest in renewable energy, along with intelligent regulation of the electricity sector.  These initiatives need to have been well executed in order for Brazil to get to where it is today, and that appears to be exactly what has taken place.