A Education Committee approved the project that creates the Distributed Generation Program, with the aim of providing resources for the installation of electrical energy generation systems, from renewable sources, in public universities and entities linked to them.
O PL 726 / 2019, authored by Venetian senator Vital do Rêgo (MDB-PB), now goes to the Economic Affairs Committee.
The proposal provides for the model of invoices to be used in these transactions, and also addresses the incorporation of these assets into the program, requiring compliance with tax obligations, with interest and fines, in case of non-compliance with obligations.
The PL received a favorable report from senator Professor Dorinha Seabra (União-TO), who presented an amendment extending the program also to institutions in the Federal Network of Professional, Scientific and Technological Education.
According to Veneziano, the project “seeks to promote the use of alternative sources for the production of electrical energy in a decentralized manner, through the installation of photovoltaic s to take advantage of solar irradiation. The aim is, therefore, to bring these initiatives closer to Brazilian universities, considering that they are centers of excellence that house qualified professionals, capable of disseminating knowledge related to distributed generation systems throughout the country”.
The project creates a financing and credit granting program by the Executive Branch, which would rely on resources from the National Climate Change Fund, in addition to research funds and resources from the Union Budget.
The objectives of the initiative are technological development and professional training regarding DG (distributed generation) of electrical energy from renewable sources; the energy autonomy of universities; and the development of the market for equipment and components used in the distributed generation of electrical energy from renewable sources.
Resources
When the project was approved by the Science and Technology Commission, in December 2022, the rapporteur, former senator Jean Paul Prates (now president of Petrobras), pointed out that it presents “relevant and legally possible sources of resources” for financing the installation of electrical energy generation systems using renewable sources in Brazilian universities.
“This creates a cheap alternative for universities to use their own electricity generation service (energy autonomy) and, in addition, provides an additional source of revenue for universities. This context is desirable, as it allows the development of the market for the aforementioned equipment and components and because of the positive externalities that education generates in the economy”, argued the rapporteur.
professional education
Dorinha Seabra considered it necessary to expand the scope of the measure to the institutions of the Federal Network of Professional, Scientific and Technological Education, “since there is no longer room for timid measures in of energy transition”.
In the rapporteur's opinion, in Brazil, the measures taken are still insufficient, both to reduce emissions and to mitigate the damage that climate change has caused and will increasingly cause.
And in the field of education, according to her, “there is still a certain indifference towards the issue, despite the consequences of natural disasters hitting schools head on. Therefore, it is necessary to rethink even the construction standards of the facilities, and the way of using energy in school buildings”.
