Slides da apresentação do Coordenador do GESEL, Nivalde de Castro, no Seminário Internacional Integração e Segurança Energética na América Latina, realizado no dia 25 de agosto de 2016, no Salão Pedro Calmon/Palácio Universitário da UFRJ – Campus da Praia Vermelha – Av. Pasteur, 250 – 2º andar – Urca – Rio de Janeiro.
The work aims to analyze UK’s and Brazil’s wholesale electricity trading models. UK’s model, also known as New Electricity Trading Arrangements (NETA), can be considered a reference for the present day electricity markets. Recently UK has implemented a market reform that, while maintaining UK’s market structure, introduced several strong regulatory economic signals in order to foster new investments, both in thermal and in low carbon emission electricity generation. Brazil’s wholesale market model is also noteworthy as it managed to promote large scale investments in low carbon generation in a liberalized market environment. However, Brazil’s regulatory framework design proved fragile during a recent long draught period when short term financial obligations related to imbalance settlements soared and led to financial stress and, eventually to a market halt.
The transmission network is the first link between large power generation facilities and electricity customers. It supplies energy at high voltages to substations, where the energy is distributed via the distribution network. The transmission network today operates with a high level of reliability, but presently a variety of technologies offers the possibility of great improvement in system performance. Sophisticated new monitoring systems may reduce the likelihood of system failures and disruptions that cause serious economic and social consequences. Emerging efficient technologies may also help to solve network expansion constraints, including difficulties to install new transmission lines and to incorporate growing participation of intermittent energy plants, like wind and solar. This paper starts presenting the status and perspectives of the Brazilian transmission sector showing the high level of investment planned until 2024 – 60% cumulative growth of line extensions and the same 60% rate for transformation capacity. In the second part the paper presents the emerging technologies and the potential opportunities it offer to increase, among other factors, the energy quality, O&M structure, availability and reduction of technical losses. These advantages impact not only for new assets but also for the existing ones. Considering the existing assets the paper starts a discussion about the regulatory framework ant the right economic signals to promote investment in innovation and automation. The paper then addresses the emerging regulatory of OFGEM in UK and the existing regulatory barriers that still exists internationally and in Brazil. The paper concludes by identifying an opportunity for developing a regulatory R&D project to deeply analyze this subject and to propose a new regulatory framework to promote an economical feasible innovation process for the Brazilian transmission sector. In the last part the paper presents the guidelines and structure of the project GESEL is starting to develop in the scope of the Brazilian ANEEL regulated R&D program.
Electric integration is a topic discussed and promoted worldwide due to the advantages for the countries involved. In order to enjoy these advantages several countries, mainly in Europe, have created regional electricity markets. For South America countries the creation of a regional electricity market is still a distant option due to economic and social asymmetries and, especially, because of incompatibilities in the regulatory framework and in energy trading mechanisms. This paper aims to analyze the electrical integration process in the South America, concentrating in Brazil the central focus of the analysis. The main constraints of Brazil’s regulatory and electricity trading model are also analyzed, highlighting that the last restructuring process of the electric sector (2003-2004) has defined a commercial model where financial contracts of “physical guarantee” are traded and not electricity itself, and where the power plants do not have autonomy over their production. The characteristics and specificities of the Brazilian model determine boundaries and conditions that must be considered to enable international electricity trade. The already existing integration projects are also analyzed highlighting that these projects were developed under special conditions for taking advantage of specific opportunities without the support of a strategic integration policy. Additionally, the paper addresses two other electrical integration projects that are under discussion, the binational hydroelectric power plants between Brazil-Argentina and between Brazil-Bolivia. The paper concludes that electrical integration with direct participation of Brazil is more feasible for binational projects and short-term surplus trade because of the differences between the Brazilian market design and the other countries market design.
Since the second half of the 1980s, when electric utilities were first privatized, the ability of the private sector to manage the supply of electricity with safety and quality has become a matter of high relevance for national governments wherever privatization has taken place. In this regard, the severe financial problems that have affected some electric utilities in different countries from time to time, have made it increasingly clear that exposure to financial risk can compromise a utility’s ability to maintain service quality and continuity, and therefore that regulatory authorities should pay attention to the identification and control of utilities’ financial risk exposure. This article aims to explore the factors that could contribute to the financial vulnerability of electricity distribution companies, in order to identify potential instruments for risk recognition and management. This study also proposes to examine possible regulatory policies for monitoring and addressing financial sustainability problems in these companies, a topic which has so far received scant attention in the international literature on electricity regulation. Lastly, this paper will evaluate the feasibility of regulating the financial exposure of electricity distributors.
Slides da apresentação de Roberto Brandão na Conferência Internacional: Potencialidades, Oportunidades e Desafios da Integração Elétrica na América do Sul realizada nos dias 26 e 27 de novembro de 2015, em Foz do Iguaçu.
Slides da apresentação de Nelson Hubner e Roberto Brandão na Conferência Internacional: Potencialidades, Oportunidades e Desafios da Integração Elétrica na América do Sul realizada nos dias 26 e 27 de novembro de 2015, em Foz do Iguaçu.
Em texto publicado na Agência CanalEnergia, o professor do Instituto de Economia da UFRJ e coordenador do GESEL, Nivalde de Castro; o pesquisador sênior do GESEL, Roberto Brandão; e o gerente de P&D da EDP Distribuição, Lucca Zamboni; analisam a viabilidade da promoção de redes inteligentes no território nacional tendo em vista as experiências europeias. Para os autores, “aumento no grau de automação das redes é desejável e merece a formulação de políticas e sinais regulatórios específicos para a sua promoção e difusão. No entanto, a massificação da instalação de medidores inteligentes, sobretudo em pequenos consumidores de baixa tensão, permanece uma questão controversa”.
Em texto publicado na Agência CanalEnergia, o professor do Instituto de Economia da UFRJ e coordenador do GESEL, Nivalde de Castro; o pesquisador sênior do GESEL, Roberto Brandão; e o gerente de P&D da EDP Distribuição, Lucca Zamboni; analisam a viabilidade da promoção de redes inteligentes no território nacional tendo em vista as experiências europeias. Para os autores, “aumento no grau de automação das redes é desejável e merece a formulação de políticas e sinais regulatórios específicos para a sua promoção e difusão. No entanto, a massificação da instalação de medidores inteligentes, sobretudo em pequenos consumidores de baixa tensão, permanece uma questão controversa”.
(Publicado na Agência CanalEnergia)
Em artigo publicado pelo jornal Valor Econômico, Nivalde de Castro, coordenador do grupo de estudos do Setor Elétrico (GESEL/UFRJ) e Roberto Brandão, pesquisador sênior do grupo, falam da relação entre a seca atual e a crise financeira com acúmulo de obrigações em volumes inéditos relacionadas ao custo de curto prazo de energia. Descrevendo progressivamente as inovações regulatórias adotadas pelo governo, chega-se ao ponto de discussão atual que é uma solução para o déficit de geração das usinas hidroelétrica. Segundo o GESEL, “as inovações regulatórias introduzidas para lidar com a crise foram bem-vindas, pois mantiveram o sistema solvente. Mas espera-se que findo mais este capítulo da crise, seja feita uma revisão cuidadosa no modelo de comercialização de energia no atacado a fim de recriar as condições de confiança e estabilidade para o setor”.
(Publicado no Valor Econômico)