The sugarcane ethanol power industry in Brazil: Obstacles, success and perspectives

A brief history of the Brazilian ethanol industry and its success is presented, such as, today the ethanol consumption for car´s fuel supply is higher, cheaper and very much cleaner than the gasoline fuel. In continuation, some of the fallacious myths against the Brazilian sugarcane ethanol are refuted. The evolution of the Brazilian ethanol power industry is showed. Brazil has a potential of, at least, 25,000 MW of sugarcane bagasse and straw power plants installed capacity but great resistance for this distributed generation is provided by the power distribution utilities. Other obstacles like the cost of the connection to the electric grid and tariffs that do not reflect the real benefit of sugarcane biomass generation are presented. Regulatory acts and a green tariff are proposed.