Vale creates technology center in partnership with BNDES
Valor Econômico - 11/06/2007
Vale do Rio Doce announces today the creation of a Center of Technological Development in Energy (CDTE) to develop researches and technological know-how in the area of renewable sources of energy, using biomass. The BNDES is going to be Vale's holder in the business. The CDTE will have investments from both investors of nearly R$ 220 million (US$ 126.4 million) in the next three years, as Valor has verified. The CDTE research program foresees the development of environmentally sustainable Brazilian technology, involving activities in the areas of gasification of thermal coal and biomass, including the use of sugar-cane as fuel. Vale will manage the center, hiring researchers and entering into agreements of technological cooperation between the CDTE and the Aeronautics Technological Institute (ITA), which develops industrial technology, and the São Carlos School of Engineering. The search for sources of alternative energy to its system, in which hydroelectric plants prevail, is a priority of Vale. Internally, the company had already been trying to develop a team in its area of energy in order to research alternative sources, such as the use of the thermal coal, renewable fuels and natural gas. Having the gasification of thermal coal as one of its research lines indicates that the mining company is seeking a cleaner technology for the application and sale of the product in the future. For Vale, coal is a long-term energy matrix, in spite of the criticism from environmentalists. The mining company considers the product a strategic business which is highly demanded by the Asian countries, including China. And thus it has been investing in this area. Vale's plan is to be one of the World's five largest producers of coal until 2010. In the next four years, it is expected that the production reaches 30 million tons, thus assuring its way into the team of giants of this market, such as BHP Billiton.