State launches program to promote clean energy.

Minas Agency - Minas Gerais is moving towards consolidating itself as a reference center in the production of clean energy in the country, with the launch of the Minas Gerais Renewable Energy Program – Energias de Minas. The program will create incentives to stimulate the implementation of new ventures in the sector and, with that, increase the participation of renewable energies in the Minas Gerais energy matrix. The "Energias de Minas" – launched this Wednesday (14) by the acting governor Alberto Pinto Coelho, in a ceremony at the Tiradentes Palace – is part of the Minas Gerais Government's strategy to attract investments for the so-called New Economy. During the ceremony, the decree that establishes the program was signed and will be published in the Thursday (15) edition of Minas Gerais, the official publication of the State powers.

Energy projects generated from solar, wind, biomass, biogas, and hydroelectric sources, as well as from Small Hydroelectric Power Plants (PCHs) and Hydroelectric Generating Plants (CGHs), should have differentiated conditions. The decree provides, among other incentives, differentiated tax treatment for the production, in Minas Gerais, of components and tooling used in renewable energy generation (solar panels, wind generators and turbines, inverters, etc.).

Law No. 20.824, of July 31, 2013, provides for the exemption of ICMS (a Brazilian state tax) for various equipment intended for the generation of this type of electricity, as well as total exemption from ICMS related to the supply of the generated energy for a period of ten years, counted from the date of commencement of operation of the generating plant, with annual, gradual and proportional readjustment in the following five years, so that the original tax burden is only reinstated from the sixteenth year onwards. There is also a provision for tax benefits for microgenerators and minigenerators of electricity.

The projects will also be able to count on long-term financing lines offered by the Development Bank of Minas Gerais (BDMG). Another relevant point is the support for research and technical training to meet the demand. The expectation is that the program will enable investments from companies in the sector's production chain interested in establishing themselves in Minas Gerais. Several of them have already expressed interest to the Government of Minas Gerais in investing in the State.

Economic and environmental gains

In addition to being environmentally sound, incentives for renewable energy also contribute to the distributed generation of electricity, a form in which production occurs in a decentralized manner, close to consumption centers, with lower environmental impacts and less loss in transmission systems.

Through Cemig, the Government of Minas Gerais has already mapped areas for the exploration of solar and wind energy in the state. In 2010, the Wind Atlas identified an estimated potential of 40 Gigawatts (GW) in the state, with the most suitable locations in the North and Triângulo Mineiro regions. This year, the company launched a Solarimetric Atlas that points out the most promising locations for the installation of solar power plants in the Triângulo Mineiro, Northwest, and North of Minas Gerais.

The development of the Minas Gerais Renewable Energy Program – Energias de Minas – involved the participation of the Secretariats of Economic Development (Sede), Finance (SEF), Science, Technology and Higher Education (Sectes), Environment and Sustainable Development (Semad), Development of the Jequitinhonha and Mucuri Valleys (Sedvan), the Institute for Integrated Development (Indi), BDMG, and the electricity distribution concessionaires.