Veolia starts up renewable electricity production through biogas valorisation on its landfill sites in Brazil

Veolia brings on stream three new Thermoelectric Power Plants in Brazil located in Iperó, Metropolitan region of Sorocaba, in São Paulo and in Biguaçu, province of Santa Catarina, in three of its the sanitary landfills operated in the country. These units will produce 12,400 kW of renewable electricity from biogas produced by the decomposition of organic waste, allowing to meet the electricity and heating needs of a city of around 42,000 inhabitants in Brazil. 

Converting this previously unused biogas into energy contributes to better recovery of waste and therefore strengthens the ecological impact of this activity. Veolia is also focusing on the valorisation of this energy resource to increase the share of renewable energy in the electricity mix and thus reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“As a world leader in ecological transformation, Veolia is committed to maximizing the energy recovery of the biogas produced on its sites with a circular economy approach and contributing to the mitigation of climate change “, says Pedro Pradanos, CEO of Veolia Brazil. 

"In Brazil, the acceleration of water stress should stimulate the search for alternative models. We are convinced that the interest of cities and industries in stable sources of renewable energy such as biogas will grow and we will be there to support this trend. Veolia is also studying other solutions for upgrading biogas in the country, in particular through the production of biomethane that can be used in the natural gas network or as automotive fuel," he added.

 

Renewable energy and impact on climate change

More environmentally friendly than fossil fuels for electricity production, biogas is generated from organic waste of animal, plant or industrial origin. It is a stable and predictable source of energy. Its energy recovery thus makes it possible to close the local loop of the circular economy and contributes significantly to the mitigation of climate change by:

  • Reducing the GHG through proper destruction of the methane (gas highly contributing to global warming, 28 times CO2) generated by the waste ; 
     
  • Replacing fossil fuels for power generation with renewable electricity produced on site, thus avoiding their extraction and burning.

By 2021, the biogas capture on Veolia's landfills in Brazil will avoid 45,000 tons of methane into the atmosphere, which is about 1.26 million tons of CO2 equivalent, traded as CERs.

 


About Veolia

Veolia group aims to be the benchmark company for ecological transformation. With nearly 179,000 employees worldwide, the Group designs and provides game-changing solutions that are both useful and practical for water, waste and energy management. Through its three complementary business activities, Veolia helps to develop access to resources, preserve available resources, and replenish them. In 2020, the Veolia group supplied 95 million people with drinking water and 62 million people with wastewater service, produced nearly 43 million megawatt hours of energy and treated 47 million metric tons of waste. Veolia Environnement (listed on Paris Euronext: VIE) recorded consolidated revenue of €26.010 billion in 2020. www.veolia.com


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