To increase the awareness for the huge potential for solar industrial heat in Brazil, the Brasilian partners of Solar Payback organised a webinar Solar Energy for Industrial Processes Heat, that took place on March 25th, 2019. The event, hosted by Lambda Consultoria, was mediated by Carlos Artur Alencar, vice president of technology and environment at Brazil’s national solar thermal association, ABRASOL.
The biggest potentials for SHIP applications in Brazil are the chemical, textile, food and pharmaceutical industries. In order to represent these sectors, the Brazilian Chemical Industry Association (Abiquim) and the Brazilian Textile Industry Association (Abit) were invited to the webinar and presented their activities focusing on sustainability.
Representing the German-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK), Natasha Costa contextualized the audience about Solar Payback. During her speech, Costa talked about the great potential of the industrial sector for energy utilization. Elizabeth Pereira, solar-thermal energy researcher, approached the technology’s application for low temperatures. Irapuã Ribeiro, representing Industrial Solar GmbH – German company that specializes in SHIP systems -, presented the technological solutions for medium temperatures applications. You find there presentation for download below. A recording is unfortunately not available.
By the end of the webinar, Alencar opened a question-and-answer session, and it became clear that the attendees were very interested on the many possibilities for SHIP application. The audience was composed by designers, industrial and solar thermal professionals, entrepreneurs and academics, totaling 164 registered participants.
One of the attendees was José Vitor Mamede, executive director at ABRASOL. Despite the knowledge he already had about the solar thermal market and technologies, he affirms that the webinar content was important for his own learning. Mamede reinforces the need for other similar events in order to promote awareness among the industrial sector professionals. He also suggests that there should be more individualized projects, like specific events for different industries sectors.
Luciano Torres, technical director at Resolver Engenharia, also composed the audience. According to him, events such as the webinar are important to promote the qualification development for industry professionals in Brazil. Besides, Torres states that this awareness is important to encourage entrepreneurs on using the technology. “The Brazilian entrepreneur is afraid to invest in technologies with a rate of return bigger than two years, which is the case for SHIP. This is one of the reasons why there are no financing lines suitable for this market in Brazil”, he says.
Elizabeth Pereira believes that the awareness process promoted by Solar PayBack, even though of great importance, is not enough. “Our biggest challenge right now concerns economical viability. We need the government to promote the solar heating market, not only the photovoltaic’s. Still, people are more interested in the subject each day, which is always a good thing”, says Pereira.