RS candidates promise coal to green hydrogen.

From fossil fuels to renewable energies, the government plans of the main candidates for governor of Rio Grande do Sul, in the area of energy, go through the different gaucho vocations in the sector.

Governor Eduardo Leite (PSDB), who is running for reelection, emphasizes, in his program, energy transition policies for cleaner sources.

If reelected, among the toucan’s priorities are: to elaborate an inventory with a balance of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions; and to implement policies capable of making viable the creation of the green hydrogen market.

He also mentions to innovate in the environmental agenda by stimulating the production of clean energies, betting in the wind, solar, and biomass potential; and, in the field, to qualify and expand the credit projects to generate solar energy and produce biogas.

Leite also proposes the use of the state’s purchasing power to contract clean energy for the administrative structures and cites, in his plan, the regulation of a carbon credit market.

Rio Grande do Sul has been arousing the interest of agents in the sector in offshore wind power generation projects. The state is currently the leader in projects of this type being licensed by Ibama.

Leite’s main opponent in the electoral polls, Onyx Lorenzoni (PL) promises, in his government plan, to stimulate the implementation of small hydroelectric plants (SHPs) and natural gas thermoelectric plants, as well as to “maintain and expand the exploitation of coal, given the new sustainable technologies available.

The coal industry is betting on the development of capture and storage technologies (CCUS), to readapt to the decarbonization of the economy.

With support from Jair Bolsonaro (PL), of whom he was Chief of Staff Minister, Minister of Citizenship, Chief Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, and Minister of Labor and Social Security, Lorenzoni also cites in his program the implementation of solar energy systems for use by state public agencies. In the section on agriculture, he says he will support the biodiesel sector, but does not go into details.