Enel’s green and gold energy
Sao Paulo is the largest city, not only in Brazil, but in South America and the entire Southern hemisphere. Now it is also the biggest city in the Enel world: on 7 June, the Enel Group welcomed the Eletropaulo company, which distributes electricity to the 23 municipalities of the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo.
The addition of these over 7 million Paulistas brings the number of Enel clients in the country to 17 million, including the 3 million from CELG, another important Brazilian company which was acquired in February 2017: “With a market share of over 20%, we are the largest electrical distribution company in Brazil. Enel will be a leader in the Brazilian electricity market: it is the right place for our Group,” commented Carlo Zorzoli, Enel’s Country Manager in Brazil.
"The acquisition of Eletropaulo is a great step forward for the Enel Group in South America and it reaffirms our leadership in Brazil’s important distribution market, in line with our strategic plan and our particular attention to the great metropolises of the world"
Francesco Starace, CEO and General Manager, Enel
Innovation and digitalization
It is not simply a question of quantity. It is most of all about quality. Enel is committed to modernising the Brazilian networks and improving service, and we have already applied the Group’s outstanding experience in digitalization and automation to South America.
As our CEO Francesco Starace explained, “Enel brings to Sao Paulo the experience that comes from being one of the largest network operators globally and, certainly, the Group with the most advanced networks in terms of digitalization, efficiency and resilience. This experience will be useful in strengthening the Sao Paulo network, through its digitalization too, so that we can bring benefits to Eletropaulo clients and keep creating value for Enel’s shareholders.”
Brazil, and more widely, South America, is the new frontier for Enel’s investment in the innovation of the infrastructure and network sector. This has always been one of the Group’s main assets and today it is the primary terrain for the spread of digitalization. This is the case both for high-density, urban residential areas, like Sao Paulo, and prevalently rural territories, like the State of Goiás in central Brazil, where CELG operated.
"The acquisition of Eletropaulo marks a significant step for the Enel Group, which has plans to invest over a billion euros in Latin America, between now and 2020, in digitalization, new network technologies, smart grids, smart meters and process innovation"
Livio Gallo, Head of Global Infrastructure and Networks
Leader in renewables
“Enel, with Eletropaulo, will make the premier distributor in Brazil a leader in renewable energy,” added Zorzoli, referencing Enel’s wide-ranging production of hydroelectric, solar and wind energy.
Enel is the solar energy leader in the domestic market, with a total capacity of 819 MW, of which 807 are produced from four large photovoltaic farms: Lapa, Ituverava, Nova Olinda (the largest in South America) and the most recent, in Horizonte, which became operative in February 2018.
Enel also operates in the distributed generation sector: for example, with a mini-plant on the roofs of the broadcaster Globo, in Rio de Janeiro. The Group also established a microgrid in Fortaleza, in the Northeast, based on renewable sources (solar and wind). It can store accumulated energy, thereby making the electricity supply independent of weather conditions.
Enel is also the leader in wind energy. It now has a total power output of 842 MW, with the new farm at Morro do Chapéu. When the 1,270 MW of hydroelectric energy (including 380 MW from the Volta Grande plant) is also considered, the Group produces almost 2.9 GW of renewable energy overall.
Our innovability
Clean energy stands at the intersection of innovation and sustainability, two guiding principles of the Enel Group which we have united in the concept of innovability (innovation + sustainability); there is no sustainability without innovation and innovation has no sense unless it aims at sustainability. Sustainability is, however, not just about the climate, just as innovation is not simply a question of technology.
Continuing the environmental theme, Enel launched the Ecoenel programme (winner of a 2008 World Business and Development Award) in the States of Goiás, Ceará and Rio de Janeiro. This offers customers discounts on their electricity bills when they recycle their waste, especially plastic, depositing it in the special recycling containers. It is an incentive for the circular economy, just like the project in Tabocas do Brejo Velho, in Bahía State, where Enel has organised workshops to teach people how to use scrap material from manufacturing sites (like pallets) creatively to produce furniture and objects.
Bahía is also involved in the Barefoot College initiative which aims to provide access to energy, even in the most isolated of areas: the project selects a group of illiterate or semi-illiterate women from small rural communities, giving them the opportunity to travel to India to learn how to make and install mini solar plants. On their return, they bring what they have learned to their home communities: in this way, renewable sources combine with the sustainable development of the local community, providing greater access to energy, training and the opening up of employment – in particular, female employment, which is often penalised, especially in developing countries.
In Goiânia, capital of Goiás, Enel has instead focused on young people, creating a 100+ member music school and establishing the Sinfonia do Amanhã (Symphony for Tomorrow), a hope for a better future.
This is because in Brazil, even more than elsewhere, the energy of development is also the energy of music.