Copersucar joins forces with Comerc to debut in the free energy market

On March 15, Tomás Manzano, CEO of Copersucar, revealed in an interview with AgFeed that the company, a world leader in sugar and ethanol sales, was lining up a joint venture to enter the energy trading segment.

Two weeks later, the company is making this step official, which expands its operations. Copersucar and the Comerc group announced this Monday morning, April 1st, the creation of a joint venture to explore the commercialization of electricity in the free energy market.

The companies informed that the sale will be made through Newcom Comercialização de Energia Elétrica, one of the energy traders of the Comerc group, which, once the transaction is completed, will act independently, with capital and control equally divided between the two partners. The agreement still depends on approval from regulatory bodies.

In a statement, the Comerc group highlighted that, apart from the joint venture, it will continue to operate in the energy trading market independently, through Comerc Comercializadora, in the market for 18 years.

Copersucar, in turn, highlighted that the agreement represents another important step in the strategy of expanding its portfolio of scaled solutions for renewable energy. This search for new businesses and areas was one of the topics addressed by the company’s CEO in the interview given to AgFeed.

In this context, Manzano said that the joint venture that was being created for the sale of energy would be consolidated “in a Copersucar vehicle”, which would sell the entire volume of the company’s plants.

On the occasion, when highlighting that the negotiations were still being finalized, he highlighted that Copersucar’s plan with the initiative was to be “among the largest energy traders in the country”, pointing out that, currently, there are around 400 companies operating in this segment in Brazil .

“It will be an open platform, which will buy energy from anyone on the market, not just biomass energy, it will buy wind, solar and hydroelectric energy”, added the executive at the time.

Copersucar is not the only company that built its history in another segment and is beginning to explore this space, in the wake of the opportunities opened up by the new dynamics of the free energy market.

Another example is TIM. In February this year, in an interview with the program É Negócio, a partnership with NeoFeed and CNN Brasil, Alberto Griselli, CEO of the telecommunications operator, stated that this is precisely one of the areas on the radar for the company’s expansion of operations.

“Energy is a sector that has a certain dynamism and where we are looking to explore some opportunities”, observed Griselli. The executive also said that TIM has advanced conversations with a major partner to enter the free energy market.

Still in the telecom segment, there are already examples of players that have already made this journey official in the free energy market. This is the case of Vivo, which, in December 2023, announced the creation of a joint venture with Auren Energia to operate in this space.

In the operation, each company will have a 50% stake and the new company resulting from the agreement is expected to begin operating in the second half of this year.