The Senate Infrastructure Services Commission (CI) approved today (17) the draft regulatory framework for offshore energy exploration in Brazil. This energy can be wind, solar or even generated by the force of the tides. The regulatory framework provides legal certainty for the country to take advantage of the energy potential offshorethat is, present in the sea.
The approved proposal establishes the granting of the right to use Union assets to private enterprises for energy generation or the granting upon authorization. The rule applies to enterprises located off the Brazilian coast, such as the territorial sea, the continental shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone (ZEE).
“[O projeto] stands out in the sense of allowing this new immediate horizon of investments that is wind energy offshore, that is, the generation of energy from the wind inside the sea, in the Brazilian sea. And for that we needed a legal framework, because it is a whole set of public goods in which there is a need for total legal certainty for investors to make their vast investments”, said the author of the project, Senator Jean Paul Prates (PT -RN).
Prates also highlighted that, although the project envisages the exploitation of wind energy in the near future, the text contemplates any form of energy production, even those still unknown. “This project is not limited to wind energy at sea, it deals with the ownership of the territorial sea, continental shelf, exclusive economic zone and other internal bodies of water, including: ponds, lakes, water mirrors, for the use of energy generation . I usually say that this project is ready for anything that is still invented using the force of the sea, the waves, the wind in the sea”.
The project’s rapporteur, Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), made changes to the project before submitting it to the commission. The bill was approved on a final basis, that is, it does not need to go through the Senate floor. This will only occur if a senator presents an appeal for analysis in the plenary. Otherwise, it goes straight to the Chamber’s analysis. According to Portinho, “punctual adjustments were made to the project” to resolve what he called “misinterpretations of the devices”.
*With information from the Senate Agency
