Fortescue and Fiec sign partnership for qualification in the green economy
In this first phase of construction, the expectation is that 5,000 jobs will be generated at the peak
Ricardo Cavalcante, president of Fiec, and Hugo Diogo, community manager of Fortescue during the signing of the partnership Credit: George Lucas/Ascom Fiec
The collaboration will take place through its Social Service of Industry (Sesi) and the National Service for Industrial Learning (Senai).
In addition it will be dedicated to developing initiatives to support thegeneration of jobs and qualification of workers in sectors linked to renewable energy and the green economy. In this first phase of construction, the expectation is that 5,000 jobs will be generated at the peak.
In Brazil, Fortescue is developing a project for the production of green hydrogen (H2V) valued at US$ 5 billion at the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex (CIPP), in the state of Ceará. In the pre-feasibility phase, the project is progressing according to plan.
The construction stage, on the other hand, will depend on a final investment decision to be made by the company starting next year.
According to Hugo Diogo, Fortescue's community manager, the action plan has four pillars: education for a green economy, fostering job creation, enhancing the local supply chain, and research and development.
"Our idea is to contemplate all possible segments, increase and enhance the maximum impact from this project, and also leave a legacy for all other projects and for all other initiatives," he explained.
Hugo Diogo also stated that the objective is to seek to contemplate heavy industry, from decarbonization and vehicle transformation, to the inclusion of native and vulnerable populations in this transition process.
For Ricardo Cavalcante, president of FIEC, the agreement is essential to understand the needs of the workforce, apart from the issue of whether it is necessary to qualify people to serve this market.
"Today, what makes us happy to know is that Senai has the capacity to qualify these people. In the last two years, there have been more than 10,000 people in the energy area, and all of them are employed. And this energy transformation that we are going through, solar energy, wind energy and now, in a third moment, green hydrogen, the volume of people that the sector needs is very large."
He points out, however, that this project needs to be aimed not only at the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza, but also at other municipalities in Ceará.
On the training side, Paulo Holanda, regional director of Senai Ceará, explained that both Sesi and Senai have actions in the area of solar and wind energy, however, what they are working on is, for example, in distribution, in the safety of green hydrogen or in the flow and operation of electrolysis.
"This preparation for the sector today includes not only the energy area, but also cross-cutting areas. We will need it in the area of civil construction, metallurgy, automation, artificial intelligence, refrigeration, mining. There are many industrial segments that will be directly affected in this chain."
Today, the federation operates in 25 segments, with a portfolio of 330 courses of various modalities, whether technical, qualification or improvement.
In addition, Ricardo Cavalcante comments that the major international bodies believe that hardly anyone will reach the cost of green hydrogen in Brazil, due to two things: sun and wind. With this, Ceará can have the cheapest green hydrogen not only in the country but in the world.
"Fortescue's job here is to export, Ceará wants to export this hydrogen. So, for sure, we're unbeatable in terms of productivity."
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