Morning to all of you, ladies and gentlemen. I am Rafael Bosio, investor relations manager for Engie Brasil.
It's a pleasure to be with you remotely and in person at the company headquarter to present the 17th edition of Investor Day. We have some important announcements before we move on to the presentations. We do have simultaneous translation into English and sign translation. Inside Engie is being recorded, and the replay will be available in Portuguese and English at our site, engie.com/br/ri. We will have direct interaction with our audience. Please raise your hands and we will take a microphone to you.
This will enable those who are connected remotely to also hear your questions. For those participating through the web, you can send your questions through the chat on the platform.
At this auditorium, we have three emergency exits, one to your left and two behind the stage. Should we need to exit the facilities if we have an emergency, there will be an intermittent alarm.
Please come out through the Beira Mar Avenue and remain in a safe place, as will be pointed out by our firefighters.
The forward-looking statements made during this event, referring to the company's business prospects, should be dealt with as forecasts that depend on the situation of the company, the performance of the electrical sector, as other variables.
They are therefore subject to change. We have a very busy agenda, and we hope that you will all participate. Please do not hesitate in raising your hand when we have an open debate at the end of each panel.
To begin the day, let's recall what happened in 2022.
To speak about the future outlook, I would like to invite Eduardo Sattamini to take the floor.
Good morning, everybody.
Thank you, Rafael.
It is an enormous pleasure to have you here with us once again in this 17th edition of Inside Engie. The focus of this meeting is to maintain our investors, the more than 270,000 that we have, some of which are present here today, and those that are connected remotely, to level out the knowledge that we have on the company, discussing the market outlooks and the options for growth for the company.
The year 2022 represents a significant change. We had a change in the hydrological regime that was quite favorable. Because of this, the price scenario underwent changes, and this posed an additional challenge when it comes to managing the portfolio, making forecasts, and adopting activities.
To navigate through this new scenario, we have count significantly with the help of our controlling company and the diversification of our portfolio. We began with the sale of Pampa Sul, and we will become the largest company of renewable generation in the country. We have 100% of our renewable capacity. This enables us to attain our goal and of course, deliver on our strategy.
Now, in the decarbonization strategy, we have lost a bit of generation power, but we have significant investments to recompose this with renewable generation. Since 2016 and 2022, we have a very sound financial position in the company, a sound operational position, and we have invested more than BRL 20 billion in this transition. We maintain our growth objectives and went from a level in 2016 of BRL 1 billion of investments per year to approximately BRL 4 billion of investment.
We continue to grow soundly. This is our characteristic as a company that pays out dividends, always with an eye on growth. During this period, we have also entered transmission. We have 2,800 kilometers of substations in transmission. We became part of the gas pipeline TAG .
Today, you will be able to hear more about this. We have the director here with us. Of course, we will speak about issues referring to Generation and Transmission. The company, of course, poses some challenges.
The opening of the market does create a challenge. There's a new resolution to open up the high tension market beginning in 2024. We have been getting ready for quite some time. Our preparation for the market opening allows us to be ready to enter this. Gabriel will be referring to this.
Perhaps this is our main challenge throughout 2023. The preparation for the opening of the market. We have a growth strategy, a strategy for the development of business, implementation of two very large projects that we have.
The construction will begin in 2023, and all of this will be presented today. Now to begin with the event, to speak about market regulation, I would like to invite Marcelo Kelle r and Gabriel Mann to speak about the commercialization or trading market.
Very well, Keller. You have a presentation or just a conversation to begin speaking about the market prices and regulation.
Well, good morning to everybody.
Let's speak about the hydrological scenario, what has happened since last year. We're in a period of transition. All of you are aware of what happened in 2021, the worst drought in hydrology and of all of our years.
We were discussing the condition of supply. In September of that year, the prices had reached a ceiling and then an enormous drop in the spot market. Of course, this points to the volatility of that market. In the summer of 2021, 2022, we had an excellent summer, something that was unexpected. It turned around a long-term trend.
We had excess rainfall, and it led to an increase of 8 percentage points in our reservoirs. We had not faced that since 2011. That very positive summer and the position of our reservoirs led to the spot prices at a floor, a floor of 2022, closing below R$60. If we compare this with 2021, we were at R$280. You can see the variation. Looking towards 2023, what is it that we observe?
A normal summer with good volumes, reasonable rainfall, nothing that will pose a concern for the summer. We're going into another summer, but the condition of our reservoirs is quite different. Presently, we have more than 50% of storage. What will happen? What we expect, something very similar to 2022. Extremely low prices in 2023 is operating below BRL 90.
A recovery of our reservoirs and in the situation, a load growing somewhat less than expected. We will have a year, 2023, very similar to that of 2022. It's very important to have your energy contracted then. Yes, we spoke about 2021, 2022. What about the midterm?
We do follow up on all of this supply coming in because of the renewable energy, the new law, bringing about new subsidies.
Of course, there will be a subcontracting that will last for some years. A low spot price, a good supply in the short and midterm, and will lead to future energy prices that will be much lower vis-à-vis the past.
We need to learn how to operate in this market with volatility. The good news in this context of low prices, the price of 2024 was of 190 BRL. It has dropped more than 60 BRL at present. The prices have truly dropped. The positive side, the upside, Sattamini, is that we were able to anticipate the drop of prices at the beginning of the year. We sold a very good level of energy for 2023, 2024, 2025. Gabriel will refer to this.
To have a good contracting strategy with the necessary anticipation, I remind you that spot prices are impacted by the economic situation. At present, we're in a very good position. Of course, we have anticipated our sales. We have hedged against the prices throughout this year, and we have achieved very good levels of contracting.
We're fully contracted for 2023 after our hedges. Hedges continue to be important. Well, when you look at the results presentation for 2022, we still have 12% of uncontracted energy.
That energy is not available for sale. It's our hydrological hedge. In 2019, we began with this, at the end of last year, when we defined the strategy for 2022, the hydrology was different.
We could have a very impacting GSF that continues to be below one, but it could have been worse, and we needed to preserve our assets. To be long in a situation where you have an impacting GSF with high prices means leaving energy to sell off in the spot market.
This has had a significant impact on our results. When pieces were 100% contracting, well, this considering that energy reserve that we allow for unexpected hydrological context. 100% contracted for 2023, well contracted for 2024 and going forward with an adequate strategy. Sattamini mentioned very clearly that this entire process was asymmetric.
To shorten this work, it means to buy at very steep prices and to hope everybody sells what they have in terms of production, guaranteeing stable revenues when there is an adverse hydrological situation.
Well, to speak about regulation, there are two aspects that I would like to underscore. Hydrology is the boss in Brazil. In poor summers, the prices change. In any market, this is important, but in Brazil, it is ever more important. There is volatility. The prices will not always be at the floor or at the ceiling. They tend to change very rapidly. Should you not be well prepared with an adequate hedge, with the right contract, you will suffer the consequences. Hydrology leads.
We do have a structural excess supply, but this is simply a window for us. The system, the market will absorb this energy surplus, will undergo contracting, but it will be necessary to expand once again, not because of the subsidies, but because of the market. We will have a convergence of prices because of the cost of expansion.
We have seen that part of the supply perhaps will be frustrated when we have good prospects that have appeared as good opportunities. There will be a market resetting, a reaccommodation, and that may happen in the long term. Of course, nothing will be different vis-à-vis the cost of our expansion. We have suffered the consequences of the international scenario, as you're well aware of.
From the regulatory viewpoint, we are taking action. Those subsidies that bring about a surplus excess, we want to make sure they are not permanent or that they do not decrease. You spoke about subsidies, and this is a constant feud. That is our position of fighting against subsidies. There are several economic groups trying to take power of the market reserve or to transfer costs to others because of their competitiveness. This is the main point.
Some of those subsidies have already been addressed. The law in Brazil is set forth based on long-term discussions between the agents. It can undergo modifications. The regulations of the TT have already been altered. The terms have been extended. We are reaching this type of lobby, which is something we would like to avoid. We are for a market regulation where sources have competition, and I think our stance.
What we advocate for is to rationalize subsidies. We could mention some. GT, that makes sense and will continue to make sense, there has to be a limit for that. The law set forth a deadline, a very soft transition, and presently there is a discussion. Yesterday there was an approval at the House of Representatives for a lengthening of those subsidies.
The minister taking office in 2023 has announced that these subsidies will be further extended.
This also includes small hydroelectric power plants. Yes, this is the problem, isn't it?
When someone tries to extend the benefit, another benefit comes on top of that. For distributed generation, there is not only the subsidy but also a market reserve. We talk about the low voltage market. It's opening, but it's already open for a certain set of generators. The minister said today that the market is open for the rich.
Yes, it's open for the rich because those are the ones that can have a contract or have distributed generation. It's not open for everybody in the low voltage market. Ovídio is going to talk a little bit about the market, but there has also been a change in the 8 gigabytes of Eletrobras, of Sudeste, of small power plants.
Yesterday, some advantages were given to small power plants, small hydro plants, and, if this is ratified in Senate, this will change the market for distribution generators. Also, there is a provision in law for a transition towards the end of subsidies for renewables. We have subsidies for the wires, for the transmission. There was a deadline for authorization, four years to implement it, and there is a movement towards lengthening this subsidy.
It makes no sense to do it. We are going over the investments that we're making. They will be made without wind and solar. That's where we are advancing. Brazil is going to continue to expand renewables regardless of the subsidies. This is an issue having to do with cost and for us to have the correct prices without favoring a segment to the detriment of another.
This subsidy should not be extended. The third subsidy that has an impact on the market is the subsidy for self-production. Self-production has an advantage that, from our point of view, is not appropriate because it falls apart relative to investment. We don't think it's appropriate. This allocate costs to other segments, especially consumers who are not served by self-production.
Obviously, speaking from our point of view as generators, this distorts market prices. Something that we see from the point of view of regulation, and I'm talking about the electricity sector, it's the compulsory contracting of 8 gigawatts from Petrobras, and there is no flexibility there. Thermal generation in Brazil makes sense. It complements the system that we have, which is based on hydro and wind.
From our point of view, as long as two things happen, it has according to be according to the market. It cannot be as reserve energy. We don't want to have an overcapacity. It has to be flexible thermal. Why?
That this can be complementary to wind and hydro. There shouldn't be a permanent cost for thermal. This has to do with 414. The issue of bringing forward the renewal of the concessions, that is a proposal which is good. It seems that the new government, the incoming government, has the intent to maintain that. It helps that on the fiscal front.
T o us and for generators, everything will depend on the conditions. Today's conditions for the short and medium term are very different from the conditions that happened during the capitalization of Eletrobras. This has to be changed.
Another issue is the funding. Since the option will be exercised by the generators who are entitled to it, if the conditions are good, there will be a run towards obtaining funding. There has to be good funding conditions for this to be successful.
The PL 414/2021 also allows the opening of low voltage market. This year, we saw the opening of the market for high voltage, the PL 414/2021 will open the low voltage market, which is open, of course, for the rich, for those who can have distributed generation. There might be another element, Keller, which we could discuss, that is the valuing of attributes of hydro.
Today, the system allows the entry of wind and solar because the hydro component is very strong.
Today, the conditions for these alternative sources to grow are given hydro, but they're being penalized. There is no compensation for hydro's flexibility and ability to store. The 414 bill addresses this, gives us a way to value the hydropower plant. It's not the only way to do it. There might be infra-legal ways to resolve that. That together with the opening of the market is something that most of us agree on at all levels, in all conversations.
There is a convergence in terms of how important and fair it is to value the hydropower plant, because it provides flexibility to the system.
It's the details, always the details. How can we define the amounts? How can we make that compensation happen?
On and so forth. This will be very important within the 414 bill.
The valuation system should be very well-defined. As regards the extension of the concession, we also have to price the future concessions. The main item, which is going to move forward this next year, is the opening of the market.
Okay, into all. As regards the market opening, we worked very hard for that, Keller and the regulatory team.
We got this very good news at the end of the year. The opening of the high voltage market allows another 106,000 units to enter the market.
We had 75,000 consumers who could migrate but didn't for different reasons. Some of them because they had distributed generation. The other factor was the highest price in the free market.
This, in turn, reduced the migration.
If we look at the migration of free markets on CCEE this year, this is 20% lower than what we saw last year, and that is because of the effect of those who decided to migrate in 2021, and that had an impact in 2022.
What we expect is that because the prices are now lower, the difference between the captive market and the free market in terms of tariffs will allow this migration of 106,000 customers who will be able to migrate as of 2024 and some others as well. I would like to highlight another point. The executive order which opened the market and the market opening on its own does not resolve the problem.
It's not 100% efficient or sufficient.
It is possible to migrate to high voltage, but, and I stress that, there are still important barriers that have to be overcome in the migration process. For example, the metering. Each district has its own requirements, and this has an impact in terms of the final cost, in terms of adapting the metering and the measurement.
We see that oftentimes in the commercial department, the migration becomes just impossible because the customer would have to spend a lot in terms of adapting the metering, and this would wipe off any gains. Also, regulations in retails, in the retail traders. These 166,000 have to migrate under a retail trader because it's a small load, and the retail trader can represent clients, customers at the CCE, pay for all the charges and everything.
As regards to the low voltage market, we were expecting it to be enacted via an executive order, but there was an agreement with the incoming government, and the incoming government now is going to make this decision. We hope this will happen. The signals we get are good.
Probably next year we will be able to proceed the opening of the market for low voltage. As Sattamini and Keller have said, this has to be competitive relative to distributed generation.
A positive element would be to maintain the benefit of the discount of the wire for low voltage as well. This is a discussion that is taking place, and we believe that it will be important to maintain this discount because this allows a competition with the distributed generators which have this benefit. We should discuss this further.
We are against subsidies. How can we make this point? There shouldn't be subsidies for anybody. My point is, why would a 5 MW solar plant be able to sold to low voltage using subsidies and then an 801 shouldn't?
We think there should be a level playing field. Instead of making a big plant for 50, the generators would make 5 small plants for 10. This de-optimizes the market. The good news is that we are ready. We got ready for this new market.
As Sattamini said, we got ready for that. We have been preparing and we have been talking to you about our plan, the go-to-market plan, as we are now hitting the streets with everything that we have. I'm going to give you some more color about this project.
The first update is the product pillar. This new market for small customers, new customers to this market. We designed our products with simplicity in mind. We had in our portfolio a product for that market, which we call the adherence product, Adesão, but that was not focused for retail. Adesão was under our traditional trading arm. This is a product for smaller consumers, flexibility, standard flexibility clauses.
We removed some of the components of customized products. We standardized the product. Specifically for our retail trading arm, we created Economiza, a family of products which include renewable energy, and the customer migrates under our retail trading arm with all the support. Making it simple, streamlining the process as needs. It's a family of products because we include 3 price structures.
In one of them, we have a discount relative to the price that consumers have in the captive market. This is one product which is called Performance. Controle for those customers who don't want to migrate with a discount, they want a defined price. We do have this product called Controle. A third product. The customers still migrate on the retail arm, but we pass on the costs of charges.
If the client doesn't want us to bear the charge costs, we can pass on the charges to the client. Some clients do want that. This has been our focus, to listen to the market, to listen to what customers needs, to look at what our competitors are doing. That's what we do in the commercial area. The competitor also looks at us. it goes both ways.
There's no longer a blue ocean there. We have to adapt our product portfolio to meet customer needs. The second pillar, we worked very much on the project, the sales channels. Here we began to implement a new indirect sales channel. In addition to our own team, we also work with business partners. It's a very well-structured program, and we train these partners so that they can build sustainable business with us.
Today, we have 15 partners all over Brazil. This is important for the following reason. This market is a retail market. It is scattered around. It's. Those customers don't know the market. They need someone close to them to explain to them how the market works. If I had to do it with our own sales force, our transaction costs would just shoot up. We have a partner program.
We have a structure to compensate those partners based on the deals that they make, and the variable revenue for them as well. This helps us to maintain reasonable transaction costs and gives also the ability to reach out to retail customers. We also have to discover those customers. For distributors, they have the information about where the customers are, but we are generators, so we have to use digital platforms, data analytics to identify those customers, generate the leads, and then pass it on to the partners.
This is all work that we have been doing. The second sales channel is Energy Place. We are going to show you a short video about Energy Place. Energy Place plays two roles. It's our e-commerce, our digital sales channel, but also a relationship channel. There is an e-commerce environment.
Customers can buy short-term products. That's where we have the most engagement. It's to close the months, as we say. Customers can also acquire long-term products and I-RECs, our renewable product, our renewable energy product. Our market is not used to digital platforms. We have been trying to engage customers in using the platform.
That's why the short-term product is extremely important. Customers go to the platform, they see that the process is simple. They start using the platform. These short-term deals are deals that if we didn't have the platform, we wouldn't be able to do them. The transaction cost would be too high for the kind of amount involved.
The platform allows us to have access to those customers at a reduced transaction price. This allows us to build long-term relationships with these customers.
We started in 2017 to discuss transaction costs. Go-to-market has been around for a long time. We have been preparing for the opening of the market. If we compare it to what's happening in the World Cup, we have been training, playing some friendly games, and now we are ready to enter the field and beat our competitors.
The other environment within this platform is the customer portal, our relationship channel with our retail customers and large customers as well. In the portal, clients find all the information about the contracts, billing.
Customers may, through the portal, give us the information they need to give us, including energy seasonality. This year at Sattamini, 97% customers have given us the season on the portal. It is a very important tool for us to digitize our internal processes and optimize costs.
The other 3% are probably late, isn't it? It's much easier to do it on the portal than to send an email. That used to be a manual process. we had to key in information in our system, the client as well. We have off the seasonality issue.
The third pillar is the digitization per se. Throughout the last few years, we have revisited our internal processes for managing portfolios, for sales. We tried to simplify the processes and then digitize optimized processes.
This involved the whole of the customer's journey, pre-sales, sales, and post-sales. In pre-sales, for example, the use of platforms, data analytics, this was all used to generate leads and to capture the leads so selling team can work on the leads. In terms of sales, all the proposals are digitized, are linked to our energy balance.
When a salesperson closes the deal, this deducts the energy from our balance, and the contract is automatically generated as well. The whole selling process was digitized. In terms of post-sales, we have the customer portal.
Therefore, I can say that we're quite ready for this market opening. We have gotten prepared, and we hope to harvest the results at the beginning of the coming year because the migration for 2024 will begin the coming year.
Now, the last point that I would like to refer to you refers to sales. We would like to update you regarding our sales in 2022. I believe we had a slide for this. Well, initially underscore a point that has already been mentioned.
As part of our strategy, we sped up the sales more than we would normally do because we do have that oversupply of energy impacting the prices, and we deemed it important to accelerate our sales. Here you have a slide for our Q3, and you can observe we will have a significant increment or increase in sales. We focused on that window of oversupply that we will have between 2022 and 2027.
We're anticipating this and attempting to maintain the average price sales for the company. This has been very important to several new projects.
We will speak about this. We do have a broad partnership to create new projects for the free market, and our sales have aided and abetted us in this, helping us with contracting until 2025. Of course, this includes the projects that will be coming
To draw your attention to something in this slide, we have 35%, which is the participation of free energy customers in the net operational revenues. All of these are very well contracted. The other 65% refers to revenues coming from the regulated energy market with the contracts we have with the CCEARs, the transmission contracts of course, and contracts that come from our share in TAG. 65% of our revenues are contract for long term, and the rest are contracted in mid-term contracts for the free market.
This is the cause of our resiliency. We may have lower prices during a year, generating contracts with lower prices in the midterm, but we're always trading energy and our average price gains stability because of this. It will take some time for average price to drop. Of course, all of this dependent on supply.
When you have an oversupply, it will take some time for this average price to increase. Another important point I would like to highlight is the increase in the number of customers. Because of 2021, the increase in our reserves has took away some of the energy for sales. We had a minor drop in number of customers, as you can observe.
We have already recovered this fully, and the outlook for the Q4 is to increase this even further. We have 1,000 customers or approximately half of which are in the corporate segment above 1 megawatt, below 1 mega for the entrepreneur market. Of course, the volume of customers below 1 mega continue to represent a small volume compared to the corporate segment.
We did have continuity throughout this year of the search for our green products. We would like to remind you that the reduction in emissions in Brazil continues to be a volunteer. It doesn't remunerate the products. Notwithstanding this, the government is discussing the regulation of the emissions market in Brazil, setting forest caps for every company or segment.
This, of course, will bring about the opportunity to be able to increase the value of these products more appropriately.
Finally, I would like to speak about the social products that with this year. In truth, they represent the opportunity of creating a link with our customers and the work that we carry out in social products surrounding our operations. I won't go more in-depth in this. I will give the floor to Luciana, who is our People, Process, and Sustainability Manager.
I would like to call upon Luciana to speak about our practices and to explain what we mean by social product. We spoke about our green products, our normal commercial activities, but we also achieve a link with our customers through our social projects. Luciana. Well, a good day to everybody. It is a pleasure to be here with you to speak about our ESG practices, not only social products but ESG more inclusively.
In the last 20 years of our activities in Engie Brasil, we have built a very sound portfolio of environmental products, and we did this based on three principles.
The first principle that we use is the principle of proximity and closeness. What does this mean? At all of our plants, at all of our locations, we attempt to work closely with the communities surrounding us to understand the demand activity, to better understand the environment.
Based on this information, when we look at our non-financial goals and guidelines, we attempt to set forth social and environmental initiatives that will be more relevant for that community. This is of great importance for us. It is carried out by our people on the field, our social and environmental managers and others who do this day after day. Periodically, we do have a structured process of holding a dialogue with our stakeholders. Proximity is the first principle.
The second principle that contributes to the success of our social and environmental projects is the balance between local actions and our corporate actions. I will give you an example. We have a very important corporate project, Mulheres do Nosso Bairro, to increase the revenues of women. This was launched in 2020.
This income generation is implemented throughout Brazil, but we do have other income generation projects as we have in Assú, to breed bees in a very specific region of Rio Grande do Norte, where we make the most of a specific species of bees and have developed a project to breed bees and to offer revenues based on the sale of honey and honey sub-projects.
The general project is generation of income, and based on the same theme, we connect this to the local realities. We have Mulheres do Nosso Bairro, other educational projects, and very interesting projects. That is the same approach that we have with the customers to fully understand the needs of our communities and act upon the That was really interesting to create that link and strengthen the link with the community.
The third principle that is a driver for our social and environmental projects is the sustainability of our initiatives. Whenever we set up an initiative, our concern is to maintain the initiative through time.
We have centers for culture and sustainability built with incentivized resources. We identify the region where this would be necessary. We already have six active culture and sustainability centers throughout Brazil. We're not only concerned with the creation of the center, but maintaining it through time. We work with training in the region, interconnected with the context.
We become aware of the needs of the site to maintain this throughout the life cycle of this center, enabling this center to offer schooling for young people and adults, complementary activities for elderly people. We're thinking of music, dance, singing classes, inclusion projects which are very important.
We are able to work with other partners and investors initiative. When we bring together these three drivers, we are able to have success in all of these projects. In more than 20 years of our social project portfolio, Sattamini challenges me significantly in this field.
We look at the portfolio and see how we can work with customers and partners so that they can also make investments in these social and environmental projects, also gain from the benefits and expand the reach of these projects. In 2021, we began a program called Partnerships for the Good. They were consolidated projects.
Their results have been fully acknowledged in the market. We do work with social projects, and we offer them to customers and partners so that they can join us in this journey. We have been very successful. Well, the benefits projects do not belong to us.
They belong to the community, to the project. It means uniting efforts to generate good evermore. This came up from that idea that we all already have that cost of working with the ethical part, offering resources. Personally, when I work with my income tax, I do make donations to some institutions. Those institutions that we support as a company, we know that these are very serious institutions, and this is a concept we would like to convey to our partners who do not have a structure focusing on this issue of how to use your resources.
It ends up being a win-win situation for the institution that is benefited, for those of us who created the project in the past, and for those who are investing in the project. We're concerned about how to package these social projects and make them available for everybody.
There is no border here. There is no difference when it comes to competitors. We work with our customers. We work with our partners. Any type of partnership to do good is valid. I can say that we worked with a one-year event for the partnerships of good. We had several customers and partners here at the headquarters. In practice, we were able to observe how powerful these partnerships can become. At the same table, we had two companies from different sectors who did not know each other. They had never conversed.
When exchanging information, they realized that one of the companies had a problem and the other company had the solution to that problem. Now, this was possible because these two companies had invested with us in different projects of this partnership, and through this exchange, they were able to resolve additional problems.
We leveraged this exchange, and we spread the benefits of this project. We invested in a program brought about by Sattamini for income tax, where we give personal income tax to some institutions. For example, the Hospital Pequeno Príncipe in Paraná. We have several sectors under construction, and the company, PortoBello, is offering the flooring for this, which is very important.
We have Portonave, also a partner in another culture and sustainability. It is a wholesaler. We have a project in Umburanas that focuses more on health issues, and we're looking for manufacturers of glasses and in a very destitute region. We have some projects in Umburanas, and we carried out a program to diagnose vision, and we donated glasses to all of the public schools. This represents 400 people that were benefited through this activity.
Of course, we paid the cost price, we did offer medical attention and much more. In this partnership for the good, we have social projects formatted as a product and companies can invest in this, we can also work with tailor-made partnerships, which was the case of this one. This project came about in the wake of a project to create literacy among young people.
We wanted to work with the development of local labor and enhance the standard of living. We therefore created a group of young adults and youngsters who did not know how to read, we began working with this project for good vision. We thought of how to escalate this to another level, this is when we created this project. This project is something that makes us very proud.
Yesterday at dinner, I was speaking to some of you, those sitting in the back, and I was explaining how gratifying it is to contribute to this greater good of society. This is what this partnership is about. It's a good that we create in several locations. Quite satisfied with the results obtained. We saw social and environmental projects where we highlighted the three principles. Sattamini referred to the project from Umburanas that arose from another project we had, and this is what is important in our social and environmental projects.
We seek to have continuity in operation and maintenance. Whenever we think about an initiative, we think about extending the lifespan of this initiative, and we expand it. To think about these projects, I think we should speak about diversity of inclusiveness. We spoke about the Women of Our Neighborhood and income generation project for women.
This is one of the external centers when we speak about this. We do have internal actions also geared to diversity and inclusion that we would like to share with you. ENGIE worldwide and ENGIE in Brazil has the goal of reaching full parity when it comes to management positions until 2030.
When this goal came about and when we keep it modern, diversity not only of gender but diversity to enhance the wealth we have of ideas and different mindsets in the company. We set up an in-house diversity journey that thinks about women's career throughout their work. It's not something limited where we look for women. We're truly concerned with their training, and this begins with awakening the interest of young girls in careers. We have a program of visits.
We're always careful to include a woman in this program, visiting the schools to show to the girls who are interested in working at a plant that, yes, they can become part of this world. We also have identified that our main problem in terms of diversity could be found in our operational areas. When we attempted to find women to work with us.
We detected prejudice on the part of the women themselves, saying that that was work for men. How to change this reality and one of the ways to do this was through this program. We ensure that our technicians, our engineers, and others would be present when we visited school groups. We visit groups at school very frequently, and this has begun to change the view of the community when it comes to working at a wind or solar plant.
We began by debunking the myth that working in a mill or in a power plant was a man's job. We moved forward. We now want to attract and train people who can then take on operational positions.
We also have a program where our associates visit schools to talk about what it's like to work in a technical position, how you can train. We are working on employer branding. We also have a program of stipends for technical positions. We have 10 of them now in different states of the country. For girls, for young women who are studying technical subjects. We also have pre-technical course exclusive for in Umburanas. In 2020 we trained 45 women in a pre-technical group in Rio Grande do Norte, where we are building this Santo Agostinho project.
We trained 31 women at the pre-technical level. There is a program for 2023 as well for pre-technical and technical courses. In 2022, we ran a program which was something we developed with HR, operations, maintenance, and implementation. This is a program for affirmative positions for trainee female engineers.
We had more than 2,800 applications for the program. We selected the candidates in June, and in September, we took on three female engineers who are now working in different areas in the company. Lucila asked to finish. As regards diversity, we don't focus only on gender diversity. We have a recent program for people with disabilities.
This is a program we are very proud of. These are not only positions, but we also provide training. When you look at people with disabilities, there is no opportunity for them to be trained. We work on these two fronts. We offer the position, the opportunity, but we also offer a training program for people with disabilities. We went to technical schools, to universities. We found the people who fit the characteristics, and we offer them training.
They work for 15 months in their areas of expertise, and they receive proper training. We want these people then to trust and also open new positions that we can contribute to train people with disability. I could talk a lot about that, but I'm going to turn the floor over back to you.
I am now going to turn the floor back to Rafael for the Q&A session at this time.
Thank you, Sattamini.
I'm now going to start the Q&A session for this 1st panel.
If you have a question, please raise your hand, state your name and affiliation. We need to take the microphone to you so that those who are listening over the web can also listen to your question. Don't be shy.
For those who are connected, you may send your questions on the platform.
You have the floor, Andrea. This is Andrea from Santander.
My question has to do with the discussion about the opening of the market. We also have this question about the additional costs relating to the opening. The customer acquisition cost is higher. You have the partners throughout the country. How much would that cost translate into megawatt hour? What about the incremental revenue from these small clients? Does this cover the cost and just about, or does it generate a margin that is above the traditional margin?
Yes, it does. Otherwise, it wouldn't make any sense for us to penetrate that market. What we cannot do is to use the same structure that we have to serve small clients.
We have the variables that we use to compensate the partner, but that is an appropriate cost for that segment of the customerCost, priced to the price point of the retail customer. Additionally, the retail customers have to generate an additional margin, a higher margin. We do that effort, but we also add more value to the company.
The culture of the company follows some indicators, the cost of acquiring new clients and the cost of maintaining customers, and the net margin over our base price, the price of our price list. This allows us to understand whether we are selling at a margin, whether we are being efficient. These questions came up in the beginning of the when we began to deal with Specialist A-4 and so on.
There was a small hotel. I remember there was a big discussion about the contract. I was taking a long time. They were paying lawyers. I said, "You are spending on lawyers more than we were making on the margin." We have been aware of the cost of acquiring customers and maintaining customers, and that cost has to be in line with the margin that the customer brings to us.
Our price is a composition of different items. Marcos Keller tells me at what price I should be selling. He's the bad cop, yeah. On top of that, I need to add the cost of acquiring and maintaining the clients, the cost of attributes, which is something that we started to price two or three years ago. That is the cost of the flexibility that we're giving to the customer.
Given the profile of consumption, he acquires flexibility. For three years now, we have been pricing that, and that is added on top of our base price. We have been working to capture the value and to price our energy accordingly.
The back office required to make that strategy feasible is something that we have built throughout the years. We are very good at controlling prices, inventory, sales prices.
We also have a Chinese wall. I'm the bad cop, so I tell Gabriel how much he should charge, what the prices should be. We include the costs per channel, margins. We also price, and we would want to do that, we price the risk according to the price per time. We have technology for that, with data analytics.
There's a lot of back office work, a lot of organization that enables us to do that. It generates a surplus for us in terms of revenue. We have large clients which account for a large volume. The margin is smaller. Then we have smaller volumes at growing margins for the small clients.
Now we want to grow our volume within those small clients at higher margins. You said something important. We have this governance, this control, and this has been evolving. This is the digitized back office that we have.
Operations are now fast because we have automated controls and governance. I just wanted to add something. Just to add to my previous question, how do we connect this whole discussion and the oversupply?
With the oversupply, it is more difficult to pass on the cost and the structure, right?
What now during the oversupply to allow the price to be implemented? I'll take that first.
We are talking about a migration of captive market to the free market. This, the first step. Many, many years ago, we did that when the free market was opened above 3,000 watts. This for us is kind of replay.
These customers now, today, they pay the distribution tariff, which is high, and it grows with all the additional costs. In a scenario where there is oversupply and low market prices, from the point of view of the customer, the economic rationale for the client is very strong for the client to make the move. Some who could move to the free market didn't do it. Why? Because two, three years ago, the free market prices were extremely high.
Today, there is a different situation. This first step of the migration, as Gabriel said-Means, for those clients, they have no knowledge of the market, so we have to be the first ones to approach the client and to show what the advantages are. The competition is lower at this first move because this is a customer who is being served by the distributor.
They are in a free market three, five years down the line. The competition is going to be a lot fiercer, and then there is going to be an effect of oversupply. This happens more in trading with the current, free market consumers, and less so with the smaller consumers who are now making the migration. Oversupply, low prices, this will define a low price on the base.
The price curve that Keller defines for Gabriel will be impacted by the oversupply. He will say the price in 2023 is X, 2024 is Y, and so on. He will design the price of the minimum sales prices for Gabriel. On top of these base prices, you add the attributes.
For example, flexibility, seasonality. If it's the case for retailers, the charges, the cost of default, all of that is added on top of the base curve and also the margin for type of client. Keller defines the base price and Gabriel defines the sales price based on the attributes to meet the customer needs. What he gets on top of that is the sales margin, and this is the KPI for his team. Next question. This is Victor from JPMorgan.
I would like to tag along on that Sattamini, you talked about now about the credit assessment and defaulting. How do you assess credit? How do you assess the customer's capacity for payment? More generally, you talk about the separation between ballast and energy. We have the market share of energy today, but the market share for ballast is a bit different.
With the opening of the market, CADE may be more relevant because ballast will be more important. How do you see this potential operation of CADE in the ballast market? Let's talk about credit assessment. Ada, you or Malta. Malta is here. Can I turn the floor over to Malta, please? For these clients, the smaller customers, we do a credit analysis, a basic one. We are not able to do a very accurate analysis.
Many of them have no ratings that we can assess. We have a history of defaulting of customers, of small customers. The level of defaulting is very low. We can also disconnect them, and this reduces our risk significantly. This is the context, the context for us to work. We define a component. A component of additional price that is passed on to the customer.
The basic assessment, as Malta said, we use assessment platforms and so on. It's called basic because we buy it from third parties. For small customers, it's not worthwhile to do our own information. I mean, they don't have audited balance sheets and so on.
These are small industries. For larger customers, we have our own intelligence, our own methodology, which has been approved by the whole group to do that assessment.
We use, for example, the Serasa platform for a pre-assessment. We have a threshold for credit using the Serasa platform, and we have to digitize that process as well. It has to be fast as the volume of clients increase. Once the customer reaches the threshold, there is a component in my pricing structure that covers any risk of defaulting. I tell you, it is really small.
We have very good mechanisms to prevent defaulting. It's close to zero. Yes, very close to zero. Defaulting happens, but in time. They might be late paying their bills, but then they settle the accounts with interest and monetary updating.
Victor, right?
I'll try to address the second part of your question. What is the concept of the energy ballast according to Bill 414?
Energy is something that we produce and sell. And ballast would be a way for the government, for the planner to ensure that the infrastructure is there, is operational. One thing is the road and something else is the traffic. When they separate that, they can have clearer drivers about the type of infrastructure that they need, more hydro, more thermal.
They pay in a different way for the ballast. In the past, the government would auction and have like 50% thermal and so on and so forth. The government controlled the energy infrastructure through the auctions. Now the auctions are less important because the market is open. What does the government do?
If they need thermal, for example, they need to think about ballast. I don't see. Maybe I didn't understand your question.
What would be the concern for the antitrust authority? The thing is, the government plans to have an appropriate mix according to clear criteria about infrastructure that they need. For example, they might say, we want to have flex thermal, they will pay more for thermal, flexible thermals, but they would pay in terms of a fixed revenue for.
I don't know if I unde`rstood your question. I don't see why the CADE would be concerned about ballast. They would be concerned about energy because there's going to be competition there. We are a major player, but Eletrobras, for example, is a private company today. I'm not saying this, but if there is any concern, should be in terms of energy, if there is any influence on the market price.
Well, we used to be the largest private player with 6%. The largest private player has 20%, I believe. I'm not sure which is the Eletrobras share. Of course, this ends up being quite representative. How is the antitrust agency going to look upon what Eletrobras does?
We need to perhaps create more awareness to see if this will constitute a problem or not.
We will go on to the last question of this block.
We're running short on time. Marcelo.
Good morning. Marcelo Saad from Itaú Bank.
A question based on your assumptions. Analysts have a difficult time at forecasting and what is the GSF for the future. Have a specific hydrology. The GSF will be 0.35, which happened in 2022. If we look forward, you could mitigate that process of a physical guarantee, which is under discussion.
During the privatization of Eletrobras, we worked on this more significantly, and we're going to have a structural generation scaling factor. Now, the transition government has already pointed to the fact that they don't want to work with this type of contracting. This will be positive for the GSF. Can you forecast the GSF, and does it make sense? The anticipated renewal of plants. What is it that you would have to pay? If I remember, it was one-tenth of 5% for the long term, and apparently this seems to be somewhat unattached to reality.
Thank you. Marcelo, it's very good that you asked me and not the person next door.
I'm not going to give you a figure in this case. It's very close to what has happened this year. Unfortunately, this year we saw a change in rainfall.
We were able to recover our storage. We're using electrical generation more. Why don't we do this as an operator? It's not possible as part of the market conditions we have created through time. You have a load and the GSF will basically depend, of course, always on hydrology, but another thing is the growth of your load. We have a market that is growing. Well, it is growing.
The economy has resumed. In a market, what is left for the operators is another factor. You have a growth in demand, and at the base, the load is already being reduced. Despite this, the market is able to grow, but it grows less than it should. If I have a group of thermal plants that are at the base, and if they're inflexible, we have no action on that management.
If we also have a growth in wind power, what is electrical energy? This is what is happening this year. There is no room for more thermoelectric management. What will happen in the long term? You spoke about one of the effects, the physical warranty. Of course, we will have to make adjustments in the real GSF. For many years, we have understood that this is not our role, that this is something that depends on hydrology.
If the Eletrobras thermal plants go inflexible processes, everything will become exacerbated, but we will have a growth in load. It's a trade-off of what will happen after the generation distribution vis-a-vis the inflexible thermal plants. You spoke about the renewal of concessions that could improve the situation, but I do have my doubts.
For those who lose their commercial capacity, well, this would have to be allocated a price as of now. Those who have a better commercial capacity now, and then in the future, we could attempt to renew the concessions. This is a game that we're going to have to enter in, and perhaps this will be aided and abetted by the renewal of concessions.
This, whenever the prices are adequate, the future GSF and all the conditions are different for the medium term. If there is adherence, then we'll have to work with this adherence, except, the figures for the real costs, and then we will have to have a convergence in GSF. It will depend on the interest of changing your present EBITDA for a future EBITDA, and those that are benefiting for the current situation to work with intense lobbying.
A heavy lobby to maintain that critical period of 49% to 56% in 70 years. Obviously, the climate has changed, the underlying conditions, the use of water has undergone change. We do not change. That is worse than what we saw in the critical period. That is what we're faced with.
We'll discuss this at another time. Very well.
We'll go on to our next topic, Sattamini.
Thank you very much, Lu, Gabriel. Congratulations for your presentations.
We're now going to give the floor to Guilherme Ferrari.
No, I'm sorry. We're going to give the floor to TAG. Watch the video that will refer to the TAG operations, present the main challenges. I was about to skip you.
Well, good morning to all of you here, those who are also following us online.
It is a pleasure to be with you to share with you the TAG vision, the strides that we have made of the market opening, and to share with you our viewpoint on the sector growth. The TAG network refers to 4,500 km in Brazil, 3,700 km in the coastal region, beginning in Rio de Janeiro, going to the ocean, and we have 800 km in the Amazon region, connecting Urucu to Manaus. What can we highlight here?
The presentation will be available to you. Of course, I invite Sattamini to reinforce any point during my presentation. If we look at the TAG coastal region network, we cross through almost 200 municipalities where we have 14 gas entry points and compression stations. It's like the heart in the human body.
It pumps the blood, it moves the entire transport system. I invite you to look at the coastal network. The 3,700 kilometers as if this were a virtual elevator. When you enter a building, you enter the elevator and you see in the chart 10 people, 80 kilos.
You'll think that the capacity of the elevator is of 800 kilos. The capacity refers more to the journey the elevator will make vis-a-vis the capacity. In this virtual journey from a ground floor to the 10th floor, we can carry 800 kilos.
It will depend on how many passengers enter or leave the elevator. TAG has several connection points, which enables us to have multiple market connections. Important for what we are doing. We have made investments in this.
The things to expand capacity to deliver more gas or receive more gas from the market helps us to create a more dynamic market. It's important for everybody to be connected to this network to max use of this network. There is no market if we don't have the unity of all parties. What is important is the connection of all of these sources of gas supply to the transportation system, making gas available to the country. It can be connected from north to south or through an integrated network.
For those who do not know this asset, this is a concession that had become an option that extends. Remember, this is a regulated asset. The regulation of the asset is reviewed periodically after the legacy contracts, but there's no end.
In the previous slide, it was a concession with a deadline to end, and now we have an authorization with an indeterminate period. At the end of the contracts, what was foreseen is that this would become a concession. I would like to underscore the robust operation taking place behind the scenes. This is invisible for the market, but throughout three years, we took over the Transpetro activities.
We have a control center in Rio de Janeiro where we monitor the 4,700 meters. We have 100,000 points of a monitored reading. There is this robust activity and six operating bases throughout the transportation network to ensure availability of service. We're also based on a concept that this complexity will remain in the in backstage.
We have a modern center of commercial dispatch that is ready to service the needs of the new market. It operates with agents. Through the exchange of information with agents, we work with the planning in the booth. We also have a backup at the control center in another location of Rio de Janeiro to guarantee full security of our operation.
It's different from the electrical sector, where we have the IMS working on this operation. We also have the international experience of our shareholder that operates transportation systems in other countries. The TAG acquisition does ensure that we are able to fully operate these assets. We are a new company acquired in 2019, and throughout these three years, we already have 44% of women in our workforce. 38% are in leadership positions, and of course, this is a reason of pride.
We have several social activities throughout our pipelines, working with the communities, listening to them, understanding, and responding positively to these communities. What I would like to highlight is the Urucu-Manaus aspect. We have a region with significant reserves, and we work with a number of CO₂ emissions avoided per year because we took investment decisions to work with the insertion of natural gas in that region. This is our natural gas balance in Brazil between supply and demand.
This ends with the imports of gas from Bolivia and liquid natural gas. On the part of supply and demand, we can see the synergy that we presented formerly. It was said that hydrology is king, and you see the difference between 2021 and 2022. There was a significant reduction in the gas balance because of the need for thermoelectric dispatch.
What I would like to highlight is the importance of investments in infrastructure geared to reducing the country's vulnerability. If we look at the volumes of liquid natural gas imported in 2021 to close our energy balance, if in 2022 we were forced to import the same volumes at spot prices, the delta that would be transferred to the market in general would represent $21 billion in traditional gas.
This based on spot prices. If we were more autistic, if we base ourselves on the maximum prices used at the beginning of the year, this would have represented $12 billion. This shows us how important investments are in infrastructure to reduce that dependence that we have on having sufficient gas for the country. In the mid chart, you can see the upstream producers in the country up to 2021.
Petrobras was the only one trading this. We're making feasible an opening to include more players. To reinforce this message, we have studies of the EPE, the planning agency that underscores the relevance of gas in Brazil. It's important for this gas to be available. What will make the difference are investments in infrastructure. We have a role, a logistic role of making the right investments to make feasible the sale of our national reserves.
Here you have a market vision. We have a link to our sub-plateau, a common supply through which we offer our services. In the entry of several agents, we are moving from a mono-customer market to having a series of economic groups that work in this transportation network.
Now, if you look at these three circles, in the first circle to the right, it is registering in our non-binding platform. It's like getting a passport. In the middle, general agree non-binding, getting a visa, for example. The decision to travel to contract capacity will be found in the middle. We have signed more than 50 transportation contracts, 37 of which are active with 10 different economic groups.
I would like to share this with the TAG group who worked on this very competently and very professionally. We cannot offer access if agents are not interested in this. Here we were very professional throughout the year. The entry of new agents at the end of 2021. In 2022, we have weekly windows to contract even more capacity, enabling new agents to enter throughout the year.
We have contracted 10% of additional capacity through the year. Here you see the total revenues of TAG, where 12% emanate from this new market. That coastal network, where we open the market with multiple players, represents 17% of our revenues.
This revenue is actually an added revenue, which takes the place of the revenue that came from Petrobras. The capacity before was contracted fully from Petrobras, and now you can work with other clients and make the market work. Yes, we are talking about revenue base. New TAG revenues are related to new investment, and obviously revenues associated with costs linked to the opening of the market.
This is happening. As you take in new entrants, they need an infrastructure to enter or exit. You make investments, and you get additional revenue. That's exactly right. If we look at the market, the gas market, and think in terms of integration, the foundations of competitiveness can be simplified. First, the logistics, that is to offer access to transport and distribution, regulated sectors, and we work with affordability.
The larger the number of users and volume in the network, the more the tariff goes down. The competition molecule. We have to favor an encounter between those parties and allow the competition, the molecule competition to happen. We have to focus on improving. For the integrated system, all the sources of supply have to be connected to the grid, to the national grid.
Very recently, I had meetings in São Paulo at FIESP, the Industrialists Federation, and I asked, "You're in the northeast, but are you here as well?" I said, "Well, there is a lot of gas coming from the northeast to serve the industry in the southeast." You don't need to know where the electricity is coming from. It's the same for gas. Gas is fungible.
We have to be able to compete and have all the suppliers connected. This is our ambition. We want to strengthen a national hub, and we want to make the right investments to allow molecule competition. We want to debottleneck the grid. When the market wants to do something that our grid does not allow, this is a signal for new investments.
That's when we open a champagne. We listen to the market. This is extremely important. Host storage. We support initiatives to improve storage throughout the grid. We also mustn't forget that we need to develop demand and connect new supply forms to the grid. We are an infrastructure business. The connection is ready for biomethane and for renewable gases. biomethane is really important because it can be transported on our gas pipes.
This is our investment plan for the next five years. We focus on expanding the market and also on ensuring the safety and integrity of assets. We are going to invest 70% of BRL 3.3 billion in the north and northeast of the country. Half of this is going to be to expand the market. The other half is going to reinforce the safety and integrity of the assets.
These investments going to be part of the asset base, right? Yes, that is correct. We have these types of investments. We classify them under three different types. First, asset access connection. We connect exit points for the distribution system. One of the main examples is the interconnection of 25 km to connect the LNG terminal in Sergipe to the TAG Transportation system and consequently to the national system.
Again, Sergipe is now connected, and it allows those who are buying from a different player to have more options. Instead of paying BRL 10, Sergipe can offer BRL 9.50, and, there's more competition there. This makes the market more dynamic. We are separating investments in the connection, and this has to do with long-term contracts, and this is different from the contracting of the capacity in the system. Also, we are extracting compression in Itajuípe, in Bahia, and this allows a greater exchange between Southeast and Northeast.
This, again, strengthens competition. We are also trying to expand the network, and this strengthens the Northeast system through Gasfor three, and this would allow the gas to reach regions where there is a constraint. These are, again, robust investments. There is a trade-off between CapEx and OpEx.
BRL 1 billion invested in pipes is the same as three years of lease of a ship on the coast, for example. Here you see how we see the achievements in our journey. We had the first free consumer, the Unigel fertilizer factories, which were reactivated under a lease with Petrobras. This is our journey. Our vision is based on promoting access to the existing infrastructure.
The more users we have, the more affordable the tariffs are. We also encourage new investment. We also uphold a sustainable model in view of the regulator and the agent. We have been offering capacity for 2023. This is available from our site. We also have short-term products for, like, monthly or quarterly contracts. To conclude, I would like to highlight what we have been doing.
We have been promoting access and connection of new players. We have been ensuring the availability and reliability of the network. We focus also on cybernetic security because we know that attacks are going to happen at some point. This is now part of life. The role of gas in emission reduction. We also want to reinforce the role of natural gas on energy transition and prepare the infrastructure for green gases. I think it's very important for us to take advantage of this window of opportunity that the country has to monetize our reserves.
We also have to think in terms of expediting the infra-legal agenda. There was a decree in 2021, but we need all the infra-legal regulations. We have to look at the network infrastructure in national terms. We about the engineering projects that we would want to see in our home.
We should build the right pipelines that coordinate investment plans. In the case of Sergipe, we contacted the local distributor, we showed them our business plan and where in the grid there was a potential for future demand, so we left a flange there for the market, and also, prevent the formation of bypasses which reduce the value of the chain and maintains the infrastructure costs.
The allocation of costs is strange. It's not. The costs are not reduced. We don't want islands which reduce competition. We also want fast track at the regulatory level. We want the harmonization between the electrical and gas sectors. We need all the intelligence where we should have thermals and what the characteristics of those thermals should be.
As regards TAG infrastructure, we think if this infrastructure is built, it should be connected to the integrated grid, and this would give gains for users in terms of diluting costs and improving the safety and security of supply. We have to stimulate natural gas demand. We have fertilizers, steelworks, mining. All of this has to be coordinated. In Espírito Santo, steelworks have converted part of their plant, so we are increasing the delivery of natural gas in Espírito Santo whilst reducing emissions.
We also want to harmonize good practices between federal and state levels. Unlike other countries, we have two regulatory agencies, one for oil and gas and one for electricity. In terms of oil and gas, we have 27 agencies in addition to the federal agencies.
There has to be a cooperation between transportation and distribution so that we can think about the network infrastructure in engineering terms. Ovidio, you touched upon something which is really important, the creation of the market, the opportunities, especially in industry. The crisis in Europe, the war in Ukraine have given us a big opportunity. We import fertilizers, and fertilizers are based on methane. It's important for us to develop these industrial opportunities, thus expanding the market.
The connection of all the agents will make us more flexible. This would allow us to go after flexible thermal plants because we have a market and a volume. This is the kind of integration we are looking for. Yes, and it's also important to say that without talking about new thermals, we have to think in terms of the current generation, like oil and diesel-fired plants.
You have talked about Europe and the crisis, and if we think about the Brazilian infrastructure, I mean, it's cheaper to learn from the others, and we see the key role played by infrastructure in Europe today. In France, we own 32,000 pipelines for gas transport and 25,000 for distribution. We were able to divert the gas. TAG transport grid also allows us to send gas up to the north or to the south.
This makes the supply safer, and it gives us the alternative to access different suppliers.
I'll turn the floor over to Rafael to coordinate the Q&A session.
We have a question from Mr. Nagano. Good morning.
This is Rafael from Credit Suisse. As regards biomethane, what is the progress relative to preparing the infrastructure and connecting new clients, and I mean here producers of biomethane?
What would be the profile of these major suppliers in this new segment?
I'm going to answer your question from two points of view. The technical challenge is not big. Biomethane is defined according to the national regulatory agency for petroleum. It is within the range of the technical specification for our pipelines. We are mapping the project. We are serving the customers who want to access our network.
We are also thinking in terms of regardless of where the biomethane is connected, either in transport or distribution. Biomethane can be sold nationwide. This is an advantage for the market as a whole and for the producer as well.
We need some regulatory advancement, such as the ones we saw in Europe, to allow biomethane to be available at a national hub.
Although this injection may be dispersed.
We have mapped out some projects throughout our grid. I cannot give you any names. We don't have secrets, but the agents do. We serve everybody with transparency, and we are studying the cases of these potential connections. I believe in this market in Brazil, and I believe in the strengthening and growth of natural gas.
Can you tell us about your expectation relative to the volumes of biomethane in the network? Biogas says that the potential is greater than the current demand, and that is 120 million cubic meters per day.
This is because of the characteristics of agribusiness and of cattle in Brazil. Most of this potential is concentrated now in the west of the state of São Paulo, but there are other opportunities along our network.
In 5 or 6 years, we could have 6-7 million cubic meters in our network.
Next question, please.
Marcelo from Itaú.
My question has to do with the TAG regulatory model, I don't know enough. You're talking about BRL 3.5 billion in investments in the next few years. You gave us the breakdown of revenue, 12% coming from your clients, the total revenue is the same until the contracts end with Petrobras. When you make those investments, do these investments require pre-authorization, do you make the investment and this then is added on to the base? What is the WACC for the next few years? The second point you asked had to do with when these investments are added to the base and if you need regulatory authorization. Yes.
We need pre-authorization from the part of the regulatory agency. They assess the need for the investment, and then they inspect the execution of the project and the fulfillment of all the requirements.
The investment is added to the base once it starts its commercial operation, the COD date. It's not linked with the end of the contract. For example, we have incremental tariffs.
Some agents have contracted these tariffs, and Petrobras might ask for an additional investment at a certain point. We do the studies, the costs, and we say, "Okay." We get the authorization for that investment in the study. If the investment goes ahead, it becomes part of the tariff. Otherwise, we get the reimbursement.
The concept is we have to make once they are pre-approved by the regulator, and then we allocate those investments on our base at COD. Sergipe, it's a connection contract, an access connection contract. Any interested agent can request the study for the connection, and that doesn't have to do with the contracting of capacity in the grid. In the case of Sergipe, there is a bilateral contract, and that investment is allocated in the long term for them. It's a dedicated connection.
The agent contracts capacity in the system. The UOC is 7.25%, real, actual terms. The international benchmark leaves us, allows us to remunerate the unamortized asset, and the UOC has to be different for greenfield investments. From the BRL 3.3 billion, there will be a remuneration as of the COD for those investments.
Yes. Be it in the base or if part of that is allocated to a bilateral connection contract. It's the regulator who assesses that and authorizes us to do the contract. The modality is guaranteed, the general terms, but investment in the connection has to be submitted to the regulator.
Now, the connection, for example, that you're referring to, it is the owner of CELSE that will be paying for the connection because this will be a dedicated pipeline. It will not be included in the general base. You will have a normal regulated contract to be able to use that network.
Exactly.
The regulator does not allow for exclusivity. If somebody wishes to have access to that piece of the network, they will have to share the prices. There is no right of exclusivity, only a right of preference. Andrea from Santander.
I would like to add something to the question. Think of the long term. This long-term contract will never become a base that is used by everybody. It will always remain as an isolated contract.
Yes, in principle, yes. Under some circumstances, it could be integrated into the base after a series of cycles. The regulator, of course, will survey which is the objective of that investment for the system as a whole. We refer to the case of Sergipe. Simply the fact that it exists already benefits those users that will not necessarily purchase the gas from them.
Another example that could come about refers to a emergency thermal dispatch. What we had, the stop down of a pre-sold stop. If this has to become part of a systemic base, the greatest cost by the market will be the scarcity of gas, and the second problem will be to have an infrastructure and not put it to proper use.
Once you acknowledge these characteristics, the positive externalities of a project for the system as a whole, this allows room for the regulator to transfer part of this to the base to amortize this and share the cost between all of the users. In that case, therefore, the idea is that future connections will be based on that parameter. Will the remuneration be the same, the same remuneration that you have at the base? Initially, this is what would happen.
The regulator will use our remuneration equivalent to the WACC that is being approved.
Thank you.
Are there any further questions? Very well. I think we have ended the Q&A session.
We will now have a 15-20 minute pause, and we will return with our last panel to speak about new businesses and implementation.
Thank you.
Tea will be served at the back of the room.
We will be opening the doors for this.
Todos os dias, a ENGIE trabalha para transformar a relação entre as pessoas e a energia, construindo um mundo mais sustentável. Acreditamos que, juntos, somos capazes de superar os maiores desafios do nosso tempo, gerando um futuro com novas possibilidades para as próximas gerações. São essas conexões e parcerias que motivam o que há de melhor em nós mesmos, o poder de fazer o bem e multiplicar impactos.
Desde o início da nossa história, a Engie Brasil Energia já investiu mais de R$ 270 million em cerca de 3,500 projetos transformadores, em mais de 200 municípios em 16 estados do Brasil. Foi com a intenção de unir as nossas iniciativas de responsabilidade social, a força de empresas parceiras que possuem o mesmo propósito de agregar valor à energia que vendemos para nossos clientes, que criamos o Parcerias do Bem.
Uma união da ENGIE, clientes, fornecedores, parceiros e instituições para promover transformação social, com foco em 3 grandes frentes: educação, geração de renda e cultura. Em apenas 1 ano de projeto, já foram realizadas e estão em processo de implementação mais de 20 parcerias, com impacto positivo para milhares de pessoas em 16 estados brasileiros. A primeira empresa a participar do Parcerias do Bem e ajudar a tirar a ideia do papel foi a Scala Data Centers, plataforma de data centers hiperescaláveis.
Até o momento, ENGIE e Scala mobilizam 7 ações conjuntas, como as doações em benefício do Hospital Pequeno Príncipe, maior hospital pediátrico do Brasil e centro de referência no tratamento de alta e média complexidade, realizando mais de 200,000 atendimentos ambulatoriais para crianças. Outra parceria de sucesso é entre a Enel e o Instituto Consulado da Mulher, ação social da marca Consul, que faz parte do grupo Whirlpool Corporation. Juntas, essas marcas participam do programa Mulheres do Nosso Bairro, parceria que atendeu, nas 2 últimas edições, mais de 2,000 mulheres em todos os eixos do programa: geração de renda, combate à violência, acesso à educação e saúde, e beneficiou diretamente 134 empreendimentos liderados por mulheres em todo o Brasil, além de doação de equipamentos da marca Consul a um grupo de empreendedoras.
O propósito do Mulheres do Nosso Bairro é apoiar mulheres por meio do empreendedorismo local, e nasceu como uma forma de combater os efeitos negativos da pandemia na geração de renda, na saúde física e mental, cujos impactos foram especialmente graves no público feminino. Os projetos selecionados receberam aporte financeiro de até BRL 20,000, mas não pararam por aí. O Mulheres do Nosso Bairro é uma rede que envolve apoio educacional, troca de experiências e fortalecimento de negócios capitaneados por lideranças femininas.
O Consulado da Mulher é uma ação social da marca Consul, que atua em todo o Brasil já há 20 anos. O nosso trabalho é justamente fortalecer as mulheres empreendedoras. Através dessa parceria com a Enel, a gente conseguiu somar esforços. Houve uma sinergia de propósitos muito forte. Juntos, por meio dos projetos e programas, especialmente Mulheres do Nosso Bairro, a gente percebeu um resultado, um impacto muito importante na vida das mulheres, especialmente as mulheres de comunidades, as mulheres do bairro, as mulheres da periferia, com as quais a gente trabalha levando oportunidades de geração de renda e autonomia financeira.
São parcerias como essas que fortalecem a resiliência e colaboram com o empoderamento de dezenas de mulheres de norte a sul do país, como a Juciane, em Mariano Moro, Rio Grande do Sul.
Como a gente já tinha os tomates, a gente pensava em futuramente plantar mais coisa pra vender. A minha filha sempre falava que ela queria morango. A gente tinha pensado, mas daí o custo era grande pra gente fazer. Como a Enel deu essa ajuda, tipo, uma alegria muito grande, um desenvolvimento, uma coisa que a gente jamais pensou que ia pudesse chegar até nós e virar o que virou a nossa vida ali, foi uma coisa muito boa.
Promover a cultura é ampliar o horizonte de crianças, jovens e adultos, gerando experiências e criando raízes que jamais serão esquecidas. É acreditando nisso que a Enel e a Portonave, terminal portuário localizado em Navegantes, se uniram por meio da Lei da Cultura para apoiar projetos culturais em Santa Catarina, como o Plano Bienal do Instituto Portonave e o Plano Anual de Atividades do Centro de Cultura de Alto Bela Vista, que promovem oficinas artísticas e atividades culturais. Esse é um dos seis centros de cultura já construídos com o apoio da Enel, que estão espalhados em todo o Brasil. Ao todo, são 1,200 crianças, jovens e adultos que participam de aulas de música, teatro, dança e de mais apresentações artísticas.
Investir em iniciativas sociais, como o Centro de Cultura apoiado pela Enel, é uma das ações alinhadas à política de sustentabilidade da Portonave. Afinal, não movimentamos só contêineres, movimentamos sonhos, movimentamos vidas e entendemos que, por meio de parcerias engajadas ao nosso propósito, fomentamos sociedades mais fortes e diversas.
O direito de enxergar um futuro com mais possibilidades e oportunidades. A Enel e a EssilorLuxottica, empresa de lentes oftalmológicas, promoveram juntas uma ação emocionante no interior da Bahia, em uma cidade de menos de 20,000 habitantes chamada Umburanas. Todos os 3,200 alunos da rede pública de ensino receberam consultas oftalmológicas. Nas comunidades de Campo Largo e Sento Sé, todos os 450 moradores foram atendidos por oftalmologistas. No total, 795
É trabalhar e dar oportunidade para as pessoas terem um presente e uma vida melhor através da visão. Os sonhos, as alegrias, os sorrisos que a gente vê nas pessoas que são impactadas por essas ações nos dão ainda muito mais energia e alegria em participar de um projeto como esse.
As Parcerias do Bem não param. Outra união de sucesso é entre a ENGIE e o McDonald's, que na ação do McDia Feliz, aportaram mais de BRL 90,000 no último ano para organizações que dão suporte a pacientes e a hospitais oncológicos, como o CEPON, Hospital de Tratamento de Câncer em Florianópolis, e a ONG Instituto Pequenos Anjos, que dá moradia, alimentação, tratamentos e alimentos para crianças em tratamento oncológico. Ao lado do Grupo Pereira, uma das maiores empresas de varejo alimentar do Brasil, por intermédio da sua bandeira Fort Atacadista, o Parcerias do Bem atuará no eixo de combate à insegurança alimentar com a doação de alimentos para promover a implantação de 5 cozinhas comunitárias no Brasil, uma das ações do nosso programa Mulheres do Nosso Bairro.
A Portobello Cerâmica também tem muito em comum e vem desenvolvendo várias ações para promover a inclusão social. Um dos exemplos é a participação da Portobello em uma das iniciativas do programa Mulheres do Nosso Bairro, através de palestras sobre enfrentamento à violência doméstica e familiar, Lei Maria da Penha e políticas públicas de denúncia para mulheres de todo o Brasil. Em breve estarão juntas em outras ações do Parcerias do Bem.
A energia da ENGIE e a energia das empresas que fazem parte do Parcerias do Bem transformam milhares de vidas por meio do desenvolvimento local, educação e cultura, promovendo transformação social e empoderando comunidades e parceiros. Por meio dessas conexões humanas, geramos negócios sustentáveis que vão além da energia, alcançando muito mais pessoas do que se estivéssemos agindo sozinhos.
Dezenas de empresas já estão engajadas nessa causa. Empresas que acreditam que juntos podemos ir além.
Para combater problemas sociais complexos, só podemos fazer isso de uma forma: unindo nossas forças. Vamos fazer o bem juntos?
A abertura do mercado de energia trouxe para a ENGIE a expansão de atendimento a pequenas e médias empresas, público cujo potencial de crescimento ultrapassa 600% nos próximos 2 anos.
Em um país de dimensões continentais e com uma competição crescente e agressiva do setor, entendemos que a transformação digital será estratégica para continuar nosso protagonismo e liderança em levar mais soluções energéticas de baixo carbono para nossos atuais e futuros clientes.
Mas como garantir a excelência da ENGIE no atendimento a grandes corporações também para o pequeno cliente e por canais atualizados? Desenvolvemos a primeira e mais completa plataforma de relacionamento e comercialização de energia do Brasil, o Energy Place, uma plataforma digital que contempla toda a jornada do cliente com conceitos disruptivos e enraizados do e-commerce e autoatendimento para mudar a forma de comprar energia. E nos prepara para a escala que o mercado irá atingir. O Energy Place nos abriu novos mercados por meio digital, engajou gestoras de energia a usar o sistema e estabeleceu uma conexão direta e de autoatendimento com clientes. Como resultado, mais de 320 novas operações foram realizadas na plataforma, um aumento de quase 200%. Também já vendemos I-RECs na plataforma e em breve negociaremos créditos de carbono e ENGIE-REC.
O Energy Place ampliou os negócios e preparou a ENGIE com antecedência para um novo momento no mercado de energia brasileiro, reafirmando nossa posição de liderança no mercado livre de energia no Brasil. Sabia que pode.
Lá do Centro de Operações.
Olá, pessoal, estamos de volta para o nosso terceiro e último bloco.
Hello, everybody. We're back for our last third block.
We're going to speak about new projects under implementation. Before giving the floor to Sattamini and others, I would like to ask you to please respond to our satisfaction form. This of course is very important to be able to enhance what we do with you. We do request your help.
Thank you, Rafael.
We're going to begin the block to speak about our development with
Mr. Ferrari. We're going to speak about the implementation of our projects with Marcio Ehrlich, and we're going to speak about the performance of our assets. Guilherme.
Good morning to all of you. It's a pleasure to be with you once again.
Perhaps we should recap what happened in the last years. As Sattamini mentioned at the beginning, ENGIE is no longer a energy company, it is a energy infrastructure company. Since 2017, we have undergone some strides enabling the company to become financially robust with a greater capacity to invest. This is what we're going to speak about. In the last few years, we had sound investments in transmission in Gralha Azul and Novo Estado, as Gabriel and Keller mentioned. Positive point was our marketplace.
Our first projects were resolved with the market, Mercado Popular and Santo Agostinho. This shows our ability to sell our perception of a change of strategy. In the past, everything was focused on the regulated market. It tended to disappear.
The captive consumers went on to the free market. As Gabriel mentioned, all of this was based digitally to access new customers. Of course, we need products to offer these new clients.
These two new investments are proof of this, and we want to continue to do more. An important point that we always underscore, and that points to our investment and deliver capacity, first of all, is our financial discipline.
We are not a company that simply grows for the sake of growing. We add value for our shareholders, and this financial stringency is one of the pillars of our growth.
Another important pillar is the integration among all areas in the company. Gabriel mentioned that mandatorily, we do have to work with all of the areas to fulfill the demands of different areas to create a project jointly.
This continuous integration and implementation have become two areas in the company that do participate in the development process since the start. This allows us to have lessons learned, enhanced processes, to deliver processes
in time and as part of the CapEx that has been approved. Once again, these are the company's fundamentals enabling us to have credit in the eyes of our controller and to continue to grow in the Brazilian market. Very briefly, an important point.
That decision to begin the conversation based on the risk profile of the volume, how projects fit into our solar and wind projects.
That was part of the assessment of the portfolio as a whole, always with an eye on the profitability. You also refer to the participation of the entire company in the development, which is under your lead.
The operation will receive the asset after it has been built, after implementation, and there are several details in the phase of development that will enable us to cooperate in a more efficient way. 2022, as Sattamini mentioned, was a year where we went from BRL 1 billion investments a year.
We have gone to a new level of BRL 4 billion AIs of investment. This year and the coming years, these investments will amount to BRL 10 billion.
We began with the acquisition of the projects Paracatu and Floresta this year. They come from the regulated market. They are solar projects.
Everybody thinks solar projects are of easy implementation, that the risks are low. If the engineering is not good, if the structuring for operation and maintenance are not good, these projects do not deliver what was promised.
The acquisition of Aracatu and Floresta initially sought out operational excellency, and we have been able to include these projects for the future. Perhaps you could speak more about the acquisition of Floresta from the operating viewpoint. In Aracatu and Floresta, we had a 30 MW plant formerly.
We learned a great deal from that. As mentioned, solar energy is not simply plug and play. There's nothing overly complex. Sometimes we have thousands of panels, thousands of components that end up requiring maintenance, and it's all an issue of logistics.
The possibility of identifying where a problem lies is important. We have done this at a small scale of 30 megawatts.
With the entry into operation of Aracatu and Floresta, we have expanded this work to 200 megawatts, and we're applying what we have learned.
We have obtained some gains. This is preparing us for an ever larger challenge that is also so of 200 megas in an area of 2,000 hectares, 20 sq km, 5 km on each side. Being able to find where a problem is means we will require a GPS not to get lost.
Responsible for the operation, I look upon this positively. We have been able to enhance skill. We're better prepared for this challenge. Have created several management tools for efficiency for the diagnosis of solar assets. We did this with the wind assets.
\We have vast experience in that. In the solar field, we have had significant evolution in the diagnostic and operational tools.
While these are tools, where we create systems that automatically can identify the source of a problem, the source of losses, and we're able to send the field team to redress the problem. I think that this is the intelligence underlying the process. The number of similar situations and the possibility of identifying and redressing problems as fast as possible, eliminating losses is what creates value and brings results.
Well, Floresta e Paracatu was an important framework for us. At a meeting with investors last year, we were about to announce the acquisition of the Açudua project. At that time, we were under negotiations which were concluded throughout the year. We have already informed you on the investment for 840 megas. It's not the largest, but one of the largest ever implemented in Brazil in a single shot.
A project of this dimension poses many challenges. A point that Marcio will refer to is the problems in the supply chain in terms of the wind equipment. We see that companies are withdrawing from Brazil. If you analyze the financial results of the aero generator manufacturers, the results are certainly not robust. This due to the constant change of platforms. There's a technological advance to enhance production and costs, but this ends up posing risks in the supply chain.
This constant exchange in the number of windmills and generators brings about several risks, and it is difficult for these manufacturers to have proper performance. We should all keep this in mind, and when we select our suppliers, we're extremely careful. In our wind projects, the civil and electromechanical package tends to be very important.
We have been through COVID war volatility. This poses an additional risk to project implementation and excessive costs during the project implementation. Now, Keller also referred to this outlook for an oversupply of energy. We see an increase of CapEx, something that was already taking place, additional risk, additional to the implementation.
We constantly receive projects that will probably not ever be implemented. Every week, we receive opportunities for the acquisition of projects with a specified cost. People who will take risks will sign the contract. It's very probable that these projects will never be implemented. This creates an outlook of an oversupply that could not become materialized. We are, however, very attentive to new opportunities.
You have already heard this spoiler. We had already announced this previously at our last board meeting, the authorization to implement the Açu Sol project, a large project with 893 megawatts. We're at the final stages of negotiation. We have already signed contract for transmission. This is certainly not a plug-and-play. It's a negotiation with suppliers.
We have come to an agreement on the project, and we're concluding a negotiation with suppliers. We're negotiating. In solar projects, there tend to be few suppliers to carry out component integration, especially for the magnitude of the project, and we have to include this, take this into consideration with the implementation team to have a smooth implementation. We will be communicating which will be our suppliers in January and February of 2023.
This is a project that will come into commercial operation in July of 2024 and 2025. We're speaking about 840 megas that will come in different stages. This is a significant achievement for this year. W
e will reach 1.6 giga of approved projects with 400 megawatts. We have sped up the process. We of course have that issue of the subsidy, which will enable us to access the market opening. All of this was mentioned in the first panel. A relevant point with our success in the transmission auction for expansion of one of our projects. We have Gralha Azul and Novo Estado.
When we have auctions for expansion or when they are close to our region, we detect a synergy in the project, an additional gain of competitiveness, and we're preparing for this auction, which will be held at the end of the year. We believe that this is a positive opportunity with analyzing the lots, and we will participate on the 15th in this auction.
All of this based on our financial discipline. We go up to where our financial return allows us. We don't go beyond. Of course, the market has had a different behavior with some players being highly aggressive. We observe that our strategy is no longer working because some players are taking away our edge and we're going to see what to do with these agents. We need to bring back appropriate profitability for our projects.
In this context, we do believe we can capture opportunities. This is something we saw frequently in the transition market, where returns tended to be very low in periods of adequate returns. Well, there was the risk of implementation, or the risk of implementation of a large line is ridden with problems, engineering problems, environmental problems, access to communities.
Marcio can refer to that. This cyclic feature will enable us to enter a new cycle with perhaps a more rational behavior of some of the agents we have identified as being outliers. Very important point. I will then give the floor to Marcio, to speak about growth. The coming year in transmission, there is that outlook that we will have several lots being bid, large lots. Of course, this is a reason of concern for us.
We're quite active in terms of associations because of the quality of labor. We're afraid of being left without labor because of the huge level of investments the coming year. Of course, this will bring risks during implementation, not only delays, but problems in health and security, a critical point for the transmission system.
Just to end my topic relative to growth, we are still, as regards renewables, looking into the possibilities in the market. There are some M&A processes going on in the market, and we monitor those processes. We look at the options, and as I said, and Sattamini reinforced, we always focus on financial discipline. We want to grow whilst adding value to the company from a financial, strategic, and commercial point of view.
That's our focus. We have to add value to the results that we have been delivering, which are very sound. Of course, another important point is to have a pipeline, a sound pipeline, so that we continue to grow. As Keller said, we see in the midterm, 2025, 2026, an oversupply of energy.
At a certain point, the market will resume its growth, and we need good competitive projects, and this is what we always wanted to have at Engie Brasil. We have a very robust pipeline. We can have associate projects with solar and wind within Campo Largo, Santo Agostinho. In the future, we will be able to do it in Açu. This is what we believe in.
This is a prospect for growth. There is an oversupply of projects in the market and we can look for the best opportunities. This will allow us to have significant clusters in terms of size, and this in turn allows us to have synergies in terms of implementation, development, and we can have more competitive energy prices to offer to the customers. We are now going to hear Marcio, who's going to talk about implementation.
It's a pleasure to be here with you again and talk about the implementation of our projects. The most important for us is health and safety. This is our license to operate. It's a precondition for any activity at Engie. We cannot allow any activity to go ahead that may put a human life at risk. In 2022, we had a very good year in our projects.
We were running 3 major projects being implemented and there was no serious accident, no fatality. This attests to our actions which were able to improve health and safety standards. Looking ahead, we have many projects in the generation arena. We haven't had any accidents, severe accidents in this last few years. We will continue to work to change the mindset in the transmission area, which always presents concerns to us.
We will be coordinating a committee for quality management within ABRATE. We want to establish standards, best practices, change the way the transmission sector works so that we can implement projects in the future without risks in the health and safety area. We are also working with ABRATE to avoid the concentration of auctions. When there is a large auction, thousands of transmission lines being auctioned, this puts a stress on the production chain, on the availability of qualified labor, skilled labor to implement this project.
It would be good for the sector to not have that big a concentration of auctions. In terms of 2022, we have completed a very relevant project called Gralha Azul, our first transmission project. 1,000 km of transmission lines, 10 substations, and we have energized this project in May 2022.
We are receiving 94% of the permitted annual revenue, and we have a small substation which should receive energy in March 2023. That's the regulatory term provided for in the concession contract. We depend on the distributor to bring the lines into the substation. From a point of view of implementation, the project has been completed and the results are great. In terms of transmission also, we have developed in other states, we have a project for 1,800 km of transmission lines.
We have brought energy to the south and east sides of this project. We are receiving 49% of the revenue of this project, and we are now finalizing the implementation of the north track. 100% of the civil works have been completed. We have a few km of cables to be launched.
This should happen by the end of this year. In January, we are going to commission the project and then turn the key between the end of January, the beginning of February. All the integrations with the national system operator, with substations such as Xingu, have been carried out and we are in the final mile. We just need to do the commissioning to complete this project.
The third major project that we implemented this year is still underway and that is Santo Agostinho. This is a wind farm, 434 megawatts. 100% of the civil works have been completed. The electromechanical BOP, substations, transmission lines, middle voltage, everything has been completed and we are now assembling the aero generators. We had some difficulties with the supply chain, which has to do with the pandemic.
There was an impact on the supply chain and this is a domino effect which we are mitigating against. The first aerogenerators should start its commercial operation in Q1 2023, and the project should be completed by the end of 2023. We don't envisage any major problems. These are the three major projects that we carried out last year.
The company has the capacity to implement projects. The implementation team is able to do it. The most important for us is that implementation starts with development. Business development, implementation and operation work together in the company, and this allows us to develop and implement projects in a successful manner. The result of this, of course, is seen in the operational results.
My client is here, and he will be able to tell you about the results that we have seen in Gralha Azul and also in our renewable projects. The transmission projects, and if we look back, the latest wind farms, they have been producing a very good operational performance in terms of availability. Umburanas and Campo Largo are running according to plan, and as an operator, I'm very happy with them.
This also reflects a greater maturity in the sector, good development, good implementation, and we reap the fruits in the operational phase. As regards the transmission lines, that's a new niche for us within the company. It's a new activity. This first year, the end of 2021, but the first full year was 2022, the results have been excellent.
The availability of the transmission line is on average 99.97 in Gralha and Novo Estado. Both of them are very close to that figure. 99.97. Yes. That is 0.03 downtime. I'll talk about PV later. Just to give you an idea, the benchmark is 99.85.
We would be happy with that. We are 99.97% in terms of availability. In terms of PV, if the loss of revenue is 1% because of unavailability of assets, our loss of revenue is 0.023. 2.3% of the expected. Again, this reflects a good development and implementation process, the quality of our suppliers, the companies that we associate with, and I am very grateful to all of you. Makes my job a lot easier.
José set up his team, and during the construction period, he defined the processes, he onboarded the team, he designed the operation of the lines, and now we are reaping the fruit. José is doing a wonderful job with the operations team. I believe this integration, the operations team come in before 6 months ahead of the energization of the project.
Operations are trained before we commission, and there is a quality in the tests and the energization. The projects are 100% integrated into the operation center. No project is on board, so to speak, manually. It has to be integrated into the operations center. This integration we're talking about is something that we have been looking for over 10 years.
I went through the areas of development and implementation. As a company, we had decided that we needed more integration. Again, just to repeat what has been said, development, implementation and operations work together. We give input, we give suggestions, small things that are done in the development and implementation phases give us good gains in terms of operations.
This is one of our strong points. We all feel partners in the same enterprise. It's no use developing something badly that will be implemented badly and be operated with less than optimal results. We all feel like we are partners. We are committed to the results, and this allows us to ensure superior performance. Just to talk a little bit about the challenges in the future for implementation, we have Açu, and the scale of Açu is really interesting.
When we began to implement wind farms in 2012, it was 100 MW. Campo Largo 1 and 2, Umburanas, 300-350 megawatts with 2.5-2.7 machines. Now in Santo Agostinho, 434 megawatts, 6.2 machines. In Açu, it's going to be 800 MW. This reflects the maturity of the company, something that has been built throughout the years, and that allows us to build such a big project.
Also, we have been looking for partners and we know them already. This gives us predictability when executing such large projects.
We are going to use Vestas machines, the ones that we have used in Campo Largo 1 and 2. The supply chain is very consolidated. The operational performance is excellent. We don't envisage any major variation.
In terms of Açu Sol, that's a large project. We're talking about millions of panels, millions of inverters. The order of magnitude is huge and it's going to be very interesting. It seems to be easy to put together a solar project, but the scale is just humongous. We are working with the implementation team, development team in the licensing phase, in the contract phase, in the tech specifications.
Implementation has already started in the projects that are being developed, and operations has already been brought in early on. I think we could open now for questions and answers. Good morning again. Thank you very much for taking my question. I'm from JPMorgan. In terms of CapEx, it's a recurring question. You don't have to give me a number, but what is the trend in terms of CapEx?
The difficulty in the supply chain, does it mean there is a scarcity of products, a shortage of products or higher prices or both? Your relationship with ENGIE, does it help you in terms of getting more products or smaller prices? How does it work? We had lots of problems during the pandemic in terms of the solar panels. There was a shortage of raw materials.
There were logistic problems, containers in the ports. This does not exist anymore. The price of the solar panel is now going back to pre-pandemic levels. We don't see problems in terms of the solar panel. There are suppliers. As
there is a discussion about Chinese suppliers. There are many issues that are raised. This is something that we are concerned about.
Some countries don't buy Chinese panels. They are the most competitive, to be honest. The major problem today has to do with the supply chain of the aerogenerator. The change in platforms brings an additional risk. The suppliers are now stabilizing at a certain level to prevent problems. As regards CapEx, it's difficult to say how much it will be.
The price of commodities have gone up, not only for the equipment, but also labor costs have gone up a lot. Before, prices were 15%, 20% below today's prices. As I said before, solar projects. In solar projects, we tend to say, well, it's plug-and-play. We tend to minimize the projects, the problems, but that's not the case. Thousands of parts, in our case, 2 million solar panels, 2,200 containers arriving. Imagine the logistics challenges.
That's an industrial process. If you don't design that very well and implement it really well, you're going to have problems. Before, companies had no idea of what kind of problems they would be facing. They tended to minimize the problems. Today we know what it's like. The price of commodities, however, is extremely high. When you look at the financial results of the aerogenerator manufacturers, the margins are very low. There will have to be an accommodation in terms of prices.
I wouldn't envisage a reduction in CapEx in the next few years. As regards the group with the new organization, we have global business units. We have been interacting with other groups in the headquarters in terms of renewables, and this has brought benefits in terms of designing plants, sourcing equipment, choosing suppliers, and also our clout when we negotiate global contracts.
Yes, this has been a differential for us in view of this new organization. In terms of solar projects, today we have global agreements, and we are able to have some benefits in view of the volumes. We also have benefits in terms of the prices, and this is a competitive advantage for us, especially just in terms of aerogenerators. We also have the same discussions within the organization. Brazil is one of the major destinations of investments for the group. When we have difficulties with the aerogenerator suppliers, the group uses its cloud for us to get the best out of a negotiation with our suppliers. I'd like to understand the sales strategy of the energy of this wind farm for more than 800 megawatts.
Are you going to sell PPAs and develop as you sell, or are you going to build the park, the farm and then sell? Looking at the current market with low spot prices, how do you make it feasible? What would be a cost or a price that would pay the bill? I think the cost is in the region of BRL 200. Is that right? We are developing these two projects as a portfolio. We have a large portfolio.
These two projects add, I think 6% to our commercial capacity. Keller is going to give you a little bit more information about the strategy. Basically, what we do is to use the synergy of our portfolio when we identify risks and potential synergies. We have advantages as well.
Of course, when you have solar generation within a portfolio that is based on hydro and wind, you have a complementarity. We think in terms of risks and benefits when we are costing the project. As regards the commercial side, we use a portfolio approach. We have a portfolio, we know how the portfolio is going to grow, and we sell that to the free market.
We don't sell straight from the portfolio. We have no contract that includes a direct sale from the portfolio. We sell to the free market, to retail, and we sell as we need. We protect, we hedge against the risk for the portfolio as a whole. There is a hydrology risk. We hedge against that, and this is a hedging in the portfolio. There is a synergy, there is complementarity between solar and hydro.
Wind generation complements hydro. This helps us in terms of the year, solar helps us in terms of the day. At the end of the day, we have a more robust portfolio. We price that and we sell it in advance. It's a portfolio-based strategy.
The window in terms of price, well, there is a price window of lower prices, 25, 26, 27. We are sold. When we need to sell, the project is a curve. If the market pays in the beginning, in the beginning of the year is a lower price, the project will only be implemented if the economics fits the curve of the project. Yes, okay. These projects have been authorized for implementation. They are not going to be phased according to the selling price. They're going to be implemented.
If there is an oversupply during the period, which is what we expect, that might not materialize, but that's not the scenario we work with. In the first few years, the price is going to be lower and the average price of feasibility. This will tend to converge to the marginal cost of expansion. Additionally, these projects will have the benefit of the wire.
Once the new projects come on stream without the wire benefit, the savings of the wire is captured. This is part of the economic rationale. We decided to put today in the portfolio these two plans. Are you going to build more? Probably not. We have estimated what the energy volume is that has to do with our risk mandate, how much we can commit or how much exposure we can have in our portfolio.
This has to do with what we said in the first panel in terms of diversification of revenue, long-term contracts in the regulated environment. This allows us to have a different firepower, different risk appetite.
Yes, we are one of the few players that have guaranteed revenue and sales volume. 65% of our revenue comes from the regulated environment, and this ensures a cash flow that allows us to invest in the sense that it's not secure from a commercial point of view, but the prospects of return are really good as the market evolves and converges to the marginal cost of expansion and the capture of the value of the wire. I think that's what you wanted to know, is that. This is Andrea from Santander.
I wanted to ask a question.
Yeah. Put the microphone on your chin.
Let me ask just a question to understand a little bit more about the dividends. The strong CapEx in the next 2 or 3 years, what is going to happen to the dividends? Are the dividends going to go back to minimum dividends, or are you going to pay more dividends? We are going to pay out 100%. Of course, mind you, when we are accelerating investments, we can go down to 55%, which is our minimum commitment.
From now to the next few years, there's no need to reduce on a permanent basis. We might have to have 55%, and then we looked at the macroeconomic scenario, and we decided to pay out 100% because we didn't see the need to retain that. We are going to continue to pay the maximum payout.
We can do that according to our balance sheet. The debt profile is comfortable. We can maintain AAA. We can go up to 3.5 net debt over EBITDA, and we are much, much lower than that.
We have a lot of space, a lot of room and leeway. I'm Arthur from Bank of America. Can I ask you a little bit more about the supply chain for renewables and for transmission? In terms of renewables, Ferrari had said that suppliers, for example, for solar panels, Chinese solar panels. What about wind supply, wind farm suppliers, not only Chinese, but WEG, for example, in terms of price, you said 15%-20% above what it was. Was it during the pandemic, pre-pandemic? When you compare wind and solar, have you seen a downward trend relative to solar supplies, for example?
In terms of transmission, given the estimates for investments in 2023, do you see the supplier chain having the capacity to meet the requirements of the authorities in terms of investments? In terms of wind farms and aerogenerators, WEG, we have been monitoring them. The group also wants to have suppliers that have a good track record. We know about the quality of WEG, but we have to monitor that.
Some Chinese suppliers, such as Goldwind, they have announced that they were going to set up a plant in Ceará to open in 2025. China has a good production capacity for equipment, but the problem is in terms of services within the country, local services. If they have a plant here, then that might improve the situation.
For us who invest in renewables, we feel the need that the suppliers are strong and can compete amongst themselves, because this is the guarantee that our projects can go ahead, that they are feasible. We watch that space very closely. In terms of the cost, we were talking about the cost of labor. If we compare the CapEx of solar and wind, it is a lot higher than in the pre-pandemic period.
Also in terms of the companies that do the assemblage, especially in solar plants, sometimes they minimized the risk, and many had problems during the implementation, were unable to complete the project, and they had to review the prices and give more realistic prices. In terms of transmission, let me just say something relating to WEG. They are a big supplier of equipment, a company from Santa Catarina.
We are very proud of their performance. We have a research and development program with them. It's been going on for 6 years. We started with their 2.1 machine or 2.2 machine, 2.3, actually, megawatts. Today, we have a research and development for a machine for 4.3 megawatts, 4.2 megawatts. We are monitoring that space. We have a commercial interest.
Under our research and development program with them, we are entitled to royalties because we funded the development of those machines.
As Eduardo said, we are waiting for WEG to demonstrate their production capacity, the performance of the machines. We expect that they could be able to qualify as a supplier. They have to demonstrate that. It's part of our policies in terms of hiring equipment suppliers, is to have a track record.
In terms of transmission, there is a concern relative to the auction in June next year because of the volume of lots of batches. We have been working with ABRATE to do a project of R&D to map out the market, understand what the production capacity is for and also the contractors, and if they have the capacity to execute so many projects at the same time.
We have been working with partners, companies that have provided services to us, this allows us to have greater predictability in terms of labor and also a partnership with equipment suppliers. This can give us greater stability in terms of supplies. Our financial position makes it slightly easier for us.
Everybody wants to work for us, although our safety standards are higher than the market average.
Suppliers want to work with us because there is predictability. They know that the project is going to go ahead, that we are going to have money to do the implementation. What we can do to prepare is to develop these partnerships so that we can be competitive in the auction. With the study of the R&D, we can go to the government, speak to the regulators to demonstrate these concerns and how we can address these problems.
When we heard about the size of the auction that is about to come about, we had a conversation with the suppliers for metal structures and towers. Our concern, of course, increased when we spoke to the builders. They're quite unprepared for the volumes of contracting that we would have. Should we not look at this very closely, we're going to create a war and everything will be postponed.
Well, this is certainly not the intention of the government. The government wants to have a long-standing industry so that it can service everybody appropriately. Otherwise, the projects will not be able to come into operation and the demand will be frustrated.
This is Danielle from the Banco Safra. To continue speaking about vendors or suppliers, what is happening with the hedge contract in the investments for transmission contracts, should you be awarded a bid in the coming auction? Which is the cost of funding, considering the present-day macroeconomic context?
Well, the hedging you're speaking about is a currency hedging. Well, when we enter an auction, we have already clearly defined the vendors, the exposure to currency, and if we win the bid, we close the hedging. We sign a contract for the supply of aero generators for the Araruama. We created a task force in the company, and we signed 240 hedge contracts, 224 contracts, which means we don't have revenues in foreign currency, and we're under the obligation of covering our exposure through these hedging contracts.
Regarding the cost of funding for the 800 MW contracts that are closed initially, now the cost of funding, we have a local proxy that we use at market rate, the BNDES, the National Development Bank, and this is how we are able to structure the projects to consolidate the rate.
Between the decision of making the investment and contracting funding, we could have variations, and all of this will be included in that risk premium that we include when we survey the economic feasibility.
Speaking about the auctions for June of the coming year, we will have extremely high voltage lines. I don't know if the company is thinking of participating or is this out of your scope. These are investments of BRL 18 billion. There's a discussion of the technology to be used.
Evidently, this is an extremely large project. You also have to create a partnership with the technology supplier. Nobody can enter in this type of
Supply alone, it will be necessary to create technical partnerships to enhance the investment capacity. Initially, we're going to be looking at this lot. It has been scheduled for October of 2023, this will draw the attention not only of Engie but of other players in the sector as well. How many billions are we speaking about? BRL 18 billion. Significant amount.
This is the annual investment. It will all depend on the discount from these suppliers. We're coming to the end of the panel. We have a last question that has come in from the chat from Antonio Rizzo. The question is: the fact that one market player has a share of about 25% with a great deal of free energy, we know who he's referring to.
Aren't you afraid of the price establishment throughout the curve during the next 4 years? Keller? Well, the response is not simple here. How to put this short term. In the short term, the market driver is a spot price.
A high spot price will lead to +1, +2, +3, and this means a strong dependence on spot prices. In the meantime, up to 3 years, there is a great deal of market liquidity.
The traders have a very good volume. I don't know which the turnaround is. Even a player of that size, yes, could set forward prices, could hold frequent auctions, but in my opinion, this will not have a strong impact on price. In the longer run, it's an issue of the market liquidity. If the.
They're uncontracted in 26, 27, if they want to sell large volumes in the market, very well. That player will have to have sales force to resort to the free market. There is no market where you can exchange energy, and you have to have a compatible commercial strength to do this. What happens in that case, the logic for the purchase of energy for industrial and commercial clients in the market is to buy 1 or 2 years ahead before. Even though they try to sell this in the market in 2026 and 27, there will be liquidity in the market.
Customers will only seek this product at the end of 2024. Perhaps I got a different viewpoint. The energy that will be uncontracted was contracted for somebody. This will represent a need for coverage.
What we need to be concerned with is an excess supply vis-à-vis demand and aggregate excess of supply. Our greatest concern is that upon uncontracting that energy from the distributors, the government should not come with new auctions for energy, and that this player will once again compete with the rest for that market.
For this reason, we have aired with the government the need to end with the discrimination of existing energy and new energy auctions or distributors should be energy auctions. We have an oversupply, and this oversupply needs to be consumed by existing demand. Otherwise, there will be a market distortion. Very well. Thank you for the debate. We have come to the end of our panel. I would like to invite all of our managers to come up to the floor, and I will invite Sattamini to make his final remarks.
This has been a very good morning.
I hope that for all of you, this has been instructive, that you were able to clarify your doubts. Of course, we're still at your disposal with our directors and the IR teams.
We're waiting for 2023 with a large number of challenges, but good success. Have a good end of the year. A brilliant 2023 to all of you.