Amaro Pereira is an economist and associate professor of the Energy Planning Program (PPE) in the Institute of Graduate Studies in Engineering (COPPE) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). He has experience in energy and environmental modeling, along with working in the areas of regulation of energy sectors, integration of new technologies and different energy sources on issues related to climate change.
Please describe yourself and your work.
I am an Associate Professor of the Energy Planning Program in the Institute of Graduate Studies in Engineering at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (PPE/COPPE/UFRJ). Additionally, I am a researcher at CentroClima and member of the Permanent Technical Committee of LIFE (Lasting Initiative for Earth) Institute. Previously, I was a technical advisor of the Energy Research Company (EPE) and Visiting Professor at the University Pierre Mendès-France in Grenoble, France and at the University of Texas at Austin, United States. My experience is in energy and environmental modelling, along with regulation of energy sectors, new technologies and climate change issues.
As an associate professor of the Energy Planning Program at COPPE / UFRJ, what energy projects are you currently working on or interested in?
Currently, I’m involved in a collaboration with the National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, in India, and Tomsk University, in Russia. The project is sponsored by BRICS funds. We are developing waste-to-energy technologies, such as pyrolysis and gasification. The idea is to produce synthetic oils or gases to feed Internal Combustion Engines. These are good options for flexible electricity generation.
Describe your passion for renewable energy and how you have put that to work in your country.
My background is energy modeling and I have been involved in many projects related to climate change. As Brazil is a country with many renewable source options to reduce GHG emissions, the passion for renewable energy was born naturally.
How would you like to see your work implemented on a global scale?
Showing solutions to reduce GHG emissions by deploying renewable energy projects, especially in developing countries.
You have said that one of the greatest areas of opportunity for Brazil’s renewable energy journey is the power sector. What do you mean by this?
First, because more than 60% of the electricity comes from hydro power plants with huge reservoirs which allows the regularization of water inflows and thus complementing the generation from solar and wind power. Also, due to the availability of many other natural resources.
Brazil is improving its flexible technologies, such as hydropower power plants, and investing in battery technology. What are your current hopes for Brazil as it continues on its path to 100 percent renewable energy? For example, what progress do you envision for the region over the next few years?
In our project, we want to present another way to provide flexible generation to complement the intermittence of solar and wind power via synthetic oil produced or gases by waste-to-energy technologies.