Economic feasibility analysis of electricity generation by biomass from rural properties properties

The global concern with environmental preservation, the high prices of energy obtained from petroleum and the instability due to political and economic crises, motivates more and more the search for alternatives of energy production from renewable sources. With the purpose of developing the market for self-sufficient power generation in Brazil, ANEEL regulated the concept of distributed generation of renewable energy in the context of producers who generate their own energy. The Electric Energy Compensation System, brought in by ANEEL's Normative Resolution No. 482/2012, was an important modification in which it allows the surplus energy produced by the consumer unit to be inserted into the distribution network, generating credits for the producer. In this context, the present study shows how the production of electricity by biomass from animal waste can generate profitability and self-sufficiency for rural producers, since the agricultural practice in Brazil generates an abundance of this resource. From this, three farms of different cultures (pigs, cattle and poultry litter) that use biogas to produce electricity were compared. In this way a survey of the data in relation to the investments of the properties in equipment, maintenance costs and all the expenses related to the biodigester system was carried out. Based on this data an analysis of economic viability was performed comparing the three cases through the method of Net Present Value (NPV), demonstrating that the project of system implementation is more viable in pig farming. The result obtained shows a NPV value for Swine culture 26.52% higher than that of Poultry litter and 47.39% higher than that of Cattle culture, which proved to be viable, but less efficient than the others.