The flourishing economy, government subsidies, development bank loans, a good base of technology startups and a highly skilled labor force are creating the perfect cultivating environment for a plethora of opportunities in the country.
The most recent example is the French retail distribution giant, Carrefour's board approval on Monday July 4th, a controversial plan to merge its Brazilian assets with Casino's Brazilian partner, Pão de Açúcar in what some consider a takeover by the Brazilian company with the help of the state owned development bank BNDES.
Brazil is the country with the largest economic and social differences between classes in the world with the classes AB and DE the only ones growing. This trend is reversing however and since 2004 and the middle class “C” is now growing at an accelerated pace. This is creating huge demand in many areas of the economy. In an interview last week in Belo Horizonte with economics professor at Gerenciais da PUC Minas, Ricardo Fonseca, the author was told that “40 million people will enter class C and 10 million will migrate to A and B in the next ten years”
Target technologies and regions
Waste to Energy
Many see WTE technology as the Redeemer of Brazil's waste legacy. In 2014 Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup followed by the Summer Olympic Games in 2016. As a result a huge amount of investment is being spent, yet waste management improvements have still lacked funds and interest. The potential and interest of institutions in cleaning up the country for waste to energy technologies is flourishing in such a situation help by a strong push by popular demand to present a clean and modern country. Opportunities abound as even small to midsized cities are looking for investors as well as technology companies to bring the necessary capital and know-how.
Strong evidence of this can be seen in the new Brazilian policy on Solid Waste Management, law 12.305 signed by former President Lula on August 2, 2010 also known by its Portuguese abbreviation, PNRS. It took 20 years of discussions in Congress. And after trying to please many different lobbies, resulted in a very misleading piece of work containing mistakes that should be immediately corrected if it is to be taken seriously by society
Wind
Brazil’s national energy research agency Empresa de Pesquisa Energetica said that wind energy accounts for the largest share of the 23 gigawatts registered for two auctions for power contracts scheduled in July. E.P.E. said 429 of the 568 projects registered in Brazil’s A-3 and reserve power tenders were wind farms, which had a combined capacity of 11 GW. The bulk of the wind projects are spread between the states of Rio Grande du Norte, Rio Grande du Sul, Ceare and Bahia.
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
National Agency for Electric Energy – ANEEL: Regulation The Brazilian power industry is regulated by Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica or the National Agency for Electric Energy (“ANEEL”), an independent federal regulatory agency. ANEEL’s primary responsibility is to regulate and supervise the power industry in line with the policy to be dictated by the MME and to respond to matters which are delegated to it by the GoB and by the MME. ANEEL’s current responsibilities include, among others: (i) administering concessions for electricity generation, transmission and distribution activities, including the approval of electricity tariffs; (ii) enacting regulations for the electricity industry; (iii) implementing and regulating the exploitation of energy sources, including the use of hydroelectric energy; (iv) promoting the public bidding process for new concessions; (v) settling administrative disputes among electricity generation entities and electricity purchasers; and (vi) defining the criteria and methodology for the determination of transmission tariffs. The agency is lead by a General Director and four Directors. Currently, Mr. Nelson Hubner is the General Director chosen by the President.
For the first time CSP has been included in the ANEEL auction process and the next one is due to be held at the end of next August.
Small Hydroelectric
The Brazilian power system is a predominantly hydroelectric system with total installed capacity of 99 GW as of the first quarter of 2009 and average demand of 59 GW in 2009. Historically, Brazil has relied on its hydroelectric power generation to meet its power demand, and given that only 28% of its hydroelectric potential has been exploited, hydroelectric power generation will continue to be the predominant source of power in Brazil in the long term.
Bio-Technology
Brazil's biotech boom. Ten years ago, Brazilian bioscience was transformed by a bold initiative. Scientists and the government must develop and extend the progress that has paid off.
Brazilian biotechnology has matured to the point at which its scientists are players on the international stage. And FAPESP is still promoting big ideas, including a new programme to pump money into a broad portfolio of bioenergy research even as the Ministry of Science and Technology constructs a bioethanol research centre; both initiatives seek to build on Brazil's lead in this field. FAPESP is also working to overcome one of the biggest impediments to progress — a lack of doctoral researchers — by encouraging scientists to fill the gaps with young stars from the United States and Europe, part of a broader effort to internationalize Brazilian science.
Information Technology
Brasil IT – The New Upcoming Global IT Power and its New Go-To-Market Identity.
Brazil, in the last 5 years, has been diligently working very hard to promote and position the country as world class IT player, with compatible delivery models that are capable to attend to most demanding world organizations.
From just one more country in the general crowd, Brazil is strongly making its way to become at least
part of a top 5 list. In every single point of contact, the representatives for Brasil IT made sure that they demonstrated its unique value proposition, based on a highly technically skilled workforce combined with deep business expertise, which together with its unique “cultural DNA”, made for the best alternative that could “hit the ground running” and provide a great opportunity and time to market payback.
Banking policy
The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) is the main financing agent for development in Brazil. Since its foundation, in 1952, the BNDES has played a fundamental role in stimulating the expansion of industry and infrastructure in the country. Over the course of the Bank’s history, its operations have evolved in accordance with the Brazilian socio-economic challenges, and now they include support for exports, technological innovation, sustainable socio-environmental development and the modernization of public administration. The BNDES has three integral subsidiaries: FINAME, BNDESPAR and BNDES Limited. Together, the four companies comprise the BNDES System. A specialized development bank Banco do Nordeste also plays a key role in investments in the northeastern part of the country which is the most disfavored in the country.
The author met with high officials in Banco de Nordeste headquartered in the booming town of Montes Claros in the middle of the state of Minas Gerais. In the HQ of the state owned development bank he was told last week that they had in excess of 500 M€ to allocate in financing for energy and infrastructure projects before the end of the year in the Northeastern region of the country under good terms with interest rates averaging 7-8%, loan terms of 15 years and loan rations of up to 75%.
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