São Paulo, September 2, 2024: This year’s edition of The smarter E South America, LATAM’s largest platform for the new energy and mobility world, wound up on last Thursday 29th after featuring more than 650 exhibitors and welcoming around 55,000 visitors from 50 countries and more than 2,500 attendees to its four parallel conferences delivered by more than 172 global decision-makers spanning the whole renewable energy supply chain. The 3-day event brought together the exhibitions and conferences of Intersolar South America, ees South America South America, Eletrotec+EM-Power South America and Power2Drive South America.
New trends, emerging technologies and government policies were presented, along with product launches from the renewable energy industry. The event has grown 20% in size over 2023, which is not only an indication of how mature Brazil’s renewable energy industry is, with its energy mix already one of the cleanest in the world, but indeed of the country’s potential to lead the way forward in the region. Currently, solar claims 46 GW of installed capacity in the country, with a further projected 2 GW by the end of this year.
Florian Wessendorf – who heads Solar Promotion International, the event’s international organiser, together with Freiburg Management and Marketing International, and Aranda Eventos – credits The smarter E South America’s success to Latin America’s abundant solar resources in combination with the awareness that innovation will be a decisive factor for the future of the region’s energy and economy.
“Energy transition and energy security are at the heart of the most important debates around the world,” says Wessendorf, “which is why the private sector, civil society and governments have been channelling efforts into finding solutions and applications capable of driving momentum in that direction, and also why The smarter E South America, as the largest platform for renewable energy, energy storage, green hydrogen, e-mobility and smart grid technologies, is now strategic for the future of the energy industry.
Ronaldo Koloszuk, Chairman of ABSOLAR’s board of directors, highlights the event’s relevance amid new opportunities created in Brazil by the increase in energy demand, which is expected to more than double until 2050, particularly for data centres, fleet electrification and artificial intelligence. “Fleet electrification is a real thing now with the increasing number of electric cars in our roads,” he says. “There’s also the growth of artificial intelligence, which needs huge amounts of energy, along with the data center sector. To help you visualise Brazil’s potential, suffice it to say that only 4 out of every 100 Brazilian homes have solar energy, while in Australia the figure is 30 out of every 100.”
Rodrigo Sauaia, ABSOLAR’s CEO, emphasises the role of solar energy in the energy transition. Solar can push Brazil to the forefront of the global efforts to decarbonize economies. “The global solar market reached 1.5 TW last year and could reach as much as 5.1 TW by 2028,” says Sauaia. “And market analysts predict that solar will play a crucial role in the global commitment made at COP28 to triple renewables by 2030. Therefore, the PV industry will continue to be fundamental for competitiveness in production sectors, for relief in family budgets, for energy independence and for the prosperity of nations.”
The bustling activity on the exhibition floor during the event’s three days was a common theme among the more than 650 exhibitors, who were able to introduce their new products to their peers and close deals with new clients. Juliano Pereira, SolarEdge’s Country Manager, says that “Intersolar South America is a key event for establishing new partnerships, consolidating old ones and discussing joint projects. We feel honoured to work on developing the solar energy market.” He further notes that the event has again demonstrated its success this year in terms of both the large flow of visitors and the numerous new business opportunities on offer.
Debuting this year, Power2Drive South America, LATAM’s key exhibition and conference for charging infrastructure and e-mobility, has expanded and enriched the event’s roster of exhibitions by highlighting the viability of e-vehicles for the future of transportation. Rafael Cunha, COO of Move and a consultant to the conference, points out that “In recent editions, we noted the growth of electric mobility solutions coming to The smarter E South America. This market segment was mentioned repeatedly at the conferences, as it’s been growing amazingly fast in Brazil, practically doubling year on year. So we found the need to bring e-mobility professionals together to network, offer insights and share experiences. Power2Drive South America arrives at just the right time to make that happen.” He adds that “We were in the Munich event and realized how much further we can go as that is the path that the Brazilian market is currently taking. This is exactly the type of event that was missing in our industry.”
The focus of the first Power2Drive Conference in Brazil was to provide an overview of the e-mobility market by pointing to the challenges of smart charging, the main opportunities, the essential technologies for expanding the charging network, and the supply chain segments yet to be fully explored.
Matheus Luiz Rodrigues, who manages the Department of Vehicle Chargers at Intelbras, describes Power2Drive South America as strategic. “We’ve exhibited at Intersolar South America for some time now. In recent years, we’ve witnessed electric mobility’s increasing presence on the floor. We’ve had not only the emergence of charging stations, but some suppliers of PV solutions have increasingly put up charging infrastructure exhibits as well. Also, as this trend shows no sign of abating, the timing seems perfect for increased representation here, and we’ve been able to bring together a robust and very well focused view of existing solutions. I have no doubt we’ll have to enlarge the exhibiting space next year as the momentum converges with what we need.”
In the expanding scenario of e-mobility, BYD, an exhibitor at Intersolar South America, maintains that there is no going back. “We are one of the pioneers in electric cars in the country and the first with an actual factory here,” says Rodrigo dos Anjos, the company’s National Sales Manager. “Other manufacturers are currently coming and will eventually come, so we must take a comprehensive view of e-mobility in Brazil. BYD is blending into this entire automotive movement, as we provide a complete solution, from energy generation to actual mobility.
As President of the ees South America Conference and of the Brazilian Association of Energy Storage Solutions (ABSAE), Markus Vlasits mentions the conference topics and the expansion in the number of exhibitors. “I think we chose just the right topics to bring to the conference. We’ve had very rich debates on crucial themes, including capacity reserve and how storage systems bring stability and reliability to an electrical system, as well as decarbonization of the electricity mix in the Amazon region and the relevance of batteries for business clients.”
“As for the exhibition, the thing that really stands out is that the area for energy storage exhibits has grown quite a lot. I believe it’s nearly twice the size it was last year. We’ve also had new international exhibitors in addition to the expected new Brazilian exhibitors,” he adds.
Leonardo Lins do Carmo, UCB Power’s Marketing and Business Director, stresses that “We’ve noticed that visitors are highly qualified and specialised – people who know what they’re looking for. I believe that ees South America has played and will continue to play a key role in creating a link between the specialised market and manufacturers.”
João Gilberto Cunha, Mi Omega’s Director and a member of the conference committee, notes that the Eletrotec+EM-Power South America Conference emulated the tried and tested formula of recent years by giving particular focus to discussions and technical sessions. “The first day looks exclusively at current issues related to standardisation,” says Cunha. “A feature of our unique approach is that the sessions as well as the workshops taking place in parallel are essential for answering questions brought by the people who actually work with electrical systems and projects.” He further mentions the recurrent participants and also the significant increase in the exhibiting area dedicated to electrical infrastructure and energy management, and is impressed by the number of exhibitors and visitors.
Gaspar Eugênio Silva, Grupo Setta’s Commercial Director, positively evaluated his company’s participation at Eletrotec+EM-Power South America. “Many existing customers came to our booth, and we also attracted new customers and did good business,” he says. “This is Setta’s second year here, and we want to come for the next editions. We predict we’ll have a very heated market in the next two years.”
The 2025 edition of The smarter E South America will be held on August 26–28 at the Expo Center Norte, São Paulo.
About The smarter E South America
By uniting four parallel exhibitions, The smarter E South America is LATAM’s largest platform for the new energy and mobility world. Following the vision of a renewable, decentralized and digital energy world and a sustainable mobility future, The smarter E South America takes a comprehensive approach by presenting cross-sector solutions and technologies. It creates opportunities to address all key areas across sectors and industries. Focusing on the interplay of power generation, storage, energy management and e-mobility, The smarter E South America brings together international stakeholders of the energy and mobility future from across the world’s most influential markets.
In 2024, The smarter E South America welcomed around 55,000 visitors and more than 650 national and international exhibitors that showcased their products.
The smarter E South America 2024 was held at the Expo Center Norte in São Paulo, Brazil, on August 27–29, 2024 bringing together the following exhibitions:
Organisers: The smarter E South America is organised by Solar Promotion International GmbH, Pforzheim, Freiburg Management and Marketing International GmbH (FMMI) and Aranda Eventos & Congressos Ltda, São Paulo as the co-organiser
The smarter E South America 2024
Dates: August 27–29, 2024
Exhibition times: 12:00pm–8:00pm
Conference times: 9:00am–8:00pm
Expo Center Norte – São Paulo, Brazil
For more information on The smarter E South America, please visit:
www.ThesmarterE.com.br
Contact:
Gioia Müller-Russo
Solar Promotion International GmbH
Phone: +49 7231 58598-218
Mobile: +49 151 20835446
mueller-russo@solarpromotion.com
Press Contact:
Maria Abdalla
Aranda Eventos & Congressos Ltda
Phone : +55 11 3824-5300
Mobile: +55 11 98303-8319
mariabdalla@arandaeventos.com.br
Press Agency:
Pimenta Comunicação
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