Citation:
Pedro Anselmo Filho and Ossama Badr, Biomass resources for energy in North-Eastern Brazil, Applied Energy, Volume 77, Issue 1, January 2004, Pages 51-67.
Abstract:
Due to the high dependency on hydroelectric power generation, Brazil faced a
power shortage in 2001. In order to remedy the situation and avoid more severe
power crises in the future, the Brazilian Government launched incentive
programmes to encourage thermal and renewable power generation. The Programme of
Incentives to Alternative Sources (PROINFA) is mainly devoted to the utilisation
of biomass. The success of PROINFA depends on the availability of reliable
studies for assessing existing biomass resources and the viability of their
utilisation for power generation. In this study, energy potentials of the main
biomass resources in the north-eastern region of Brazil have been assessed. The
economy of the north-eastern region of Brazil is heavily dependent on its sugar
industry. Biomass available from sugarcane cultivation and processing represents
an annual regional energy resource of 40.5 TWh at an average cost of US$ 0.005/
kWh. Bamboo, cultivated as a dedicated energy crop, has the second largest
annual energy potential of 30.8 TWh at an average cost of US$ 0.009/kWh.
Municipal solid waste, generated in the region, has an annual energy potential
of about 16.7 TWh.
