Brazil’s sugarcane biomass electricity output rises by 28.7%

Brazil witnessed a 28.7% increase in electricity generated from sugarcane biomass in the first four months of this year, equivalent to 3% of the country’s total energy, according to a report by the Sugarcane and Bioenergy Industry Union (Unica).

Unica’s Bioelectricity Manager, Zilmar Souza, noted the significant rise, equating the renewable power generated to the annual electricity consumption of approximately three million people.

This amount corresponds to 8% of the country’s gas-fired thermal generation in 2022.

With the official start of the sugarcane harvest in the central-south region in April, bioelectricity from all biomass sources accounted for 3.7% of the total energy generated in the country.

This percentage surpassed photovoltaic and gas-fired thermal generation and reached 6.2% in May.

Sugarcane biomass, Brazil’s fourth most important energy source, constitutes 72% of the country’s total installed bioelectricity capacity.

If all types of biomass are considered, the installed capacity reaches 17,082 MW, representing 8.8% of the total installed capacity in Brazil’s energy matrix.

The study also highlights that biomass energy has added 6,914 MW to the country’s energy matrix over the last decade, nearly half the power generated by the Itaipu hydroelectric plant in 2022.

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