The historical scenery of the fossil fuels used for power generation in the state of Amazonas (AM), indicates a great economic loss and imposes severe restrictions on the regional development of the region. This urged the necessity of seeking alternative energy sources that are cleaner, safer and less expensive. In this way, the province of Urucu’s natural gas, in Coari—city of the state of Amazonas (AM), presents itself as the best short term option to substitute the petroleum derived liquid fuels by the natural gas for operating thermoelectric power plants not only in the city of Manaus—capital of the state of Amazonas, but also in the other seven cities in the state along the main trajectory of the Coari–Manaus pipeline. Additionally, natural gas can be considered as a viable option for the implantation of the natural gas based chemical pole in the state. In a manner the natural gas will be used for the implantation of many gas based projects highly sustainable and will certainly result in numerous improvements in the state of Amazonas from the social, economic and ambient points of view.
Energy policy in today’s world is governed essentially by three main objectives: security of supply, efficiency of supply, and social and environmental sustainability. Obviously the specific characteristics of the societies involved, dictates the emphasis and set up the basic priorities in a particular region, which may be quite different from one region to another (Mocarquer et al., 2009).
Energy supply for isolated communities in the Amazon, and particularly, in the state of Amazonas, is dramatically critical, with characteristics that are completely different from other brazilian regions integrated to the interlinked electrical energy supply system. For example the costs of electric power production are way superior to the ones practised in the interlinked electric systems that serve most of the brazilian population. This is mainly due to the high prices of the petroleum derived fuels used in electric power generation by the isolated thermal power plants attending the consumers in the state. Nevertheless, the state of Amazonas has great natural and environmental renewable and non-renewable resources of energy and raw material available, crowning the Amazon with strong competitive advantages. These resources rank up the state as being the greatest natural gas producers and the third biggest brazilian oil producer in land. In other words, having the management of the electrical energy semipublic corporation Manaus Energia S/A—MESA (MESA, 2009a), and with this energy scenery it is possible to identify the numerous benefits that natural gas in the region can offer to the isolated electric systems in the state of Amazonas. Actually 85% of the state energy matrix is from petroleum derived liquid fuels used for electric power generation and will be substituted in the near future by natural gas due to its economic and environmental positive impacts.
In this way, the natural gas project in the state of Amazonas inserts itself in an important governmental effort to redesign energy and environmental strategies feasible to the Amazon’s sustainable development. The long distances, the low demographic density and the regional ecosystems define a set of difficulties that require a specific treatment in order to guarantee the supply of electric energy to attend the necessities of its population. This specific electric demand represents, at the moment, the main market for the use of Urucu’s natural gas, in the city of Coari (AM). Adequate electrical energy public services in the state of Amazonas, which fulfils the regularity, continuity, efficiency, security, and less expensive taxes, are among the fundamental issues to comply with the constitutional objectives of reducing the regional inequality, and eliminating the imminent risk of transforming electric energy supply into an inhibitive factor for regional developments as well as economical, social and cultural non-integration.
This federal state is different from the other regions in the country for having many isolated electrical systems, most of them are of low capacity, low reliability, poor service qualities and of high cost, according to the Amazonas semipublic energy corporation—CEAM (CEAM, 2008a). This is due to using diesel units for electricity generation, which was responsible for a fuel expenditure of approximately US$ 1 billion in 2008s fiscal year. This huge electric bill was paid by funds resources transferred from the Fossil Fuels Consuming Account–CCC. This specific account is sustained by a type of tax included in the electric energy consumption bills of all consumers, except those living in this part of the Amazon and attended by the isolated electric systems (MESA, 2009a).
This paper analyses the project of natural gas from the Solimões Basin, in the city of Coari (AM) and the benefits of its inclusion in the energy matrix of the state of Amazonas’. Also the paper discusses the concept of using the natural gas as a raw material in the regional pole dedicated to the gas based chemical industry as proposed by the local and federal governments and considered by both as a new vector for the economic development of the Amazon region, (ANP, 2008).
