O objetivo do presente trabalho é identificar alternativas para lidar com os desafios inerentes à expansão de fontes não controláveis na matriz elétrica brasileira. A metodologia utilizada teve como base a realização de revisão bibliográfica, análise documental e consulta a especialistas, visando à construção de dois cenários, um de referência e outro alternativo. Os resultados encontrados indicam que a alternativa a ser priorizada no cenário de referência é baseada na conjugação de contratação de termoelétricas e de reforços no sistema de transmissão. Já no cenário alternativo, são adotadas medidas de gerenciamento da demanda, viabilizada através do desenvolvimento de redes inteligentes e da difusão do armazenamento de energia.
O sistema elétrico do Brasil se caracteriza por ser um sistema com nítida preponderância hidrelétrica. Todavia o país possui um grande potencial hídrico remanescente, situado principalmente na região amazônica. As usinas fio d´água, construídas nesta região, representam um grande desafio para o setor, principalmente para a operação do sistema, traduzindo também uma necessidade importante de ajustes no marco regulatório do setor para contornar os problemas que emergiram da alteração de características do sistema interligado.
A partir do ano de 2004, passou a vigorar um novo modelo para o setor elétrico brasileiro (SEB), com base em três pilares: garantia da expansão da capacidade instalada, modicidade tarifária e universalização do acesso à eletricidade. Para atingir estes objetivos, foi retomado o planejamento subordinado à responsabilidade do Estado, que havia sido transferido para os agentes privados a partir dos anos 1990. A criação da Empresa de Pesquisa Energética (EPE) atende tal finalidade, e, através do Plano Decenal de Expansão de Energia (PDE), formula anualmente previsões de expansão de oferta e demanda de energia para um período de 10 anos à frente, transformando-se em importante instrumento de planejamento para o SEB. A contratação de nova capacidade instalada passa a se dar via leilões de energia, através dos quais é realizada a concessão de novas usinas e garante-se o atendimento à totalidade da expansão da demanda prevista pelas distribuidoras para os consumidores cativos. O artigo busca fazer uma comparação entre as proposições do PDE e os resultados dos leilões ocorridos até 2015. Essencialmente, procura-se responder se, através do planejamento indicado e dos leilões realizados, estamos de fato caminhando para uma matriz elétrica estratégica para o SEB.
O objetivo central é analisar os desafios e oportunidades da integração elétrica na América do Sul. No momento em que a globalização reorganiza radicalmente as relações econômicas mundiais e lança novos desafios em matéria de sustentabilidade ambiental, abre-se para a América do Sul oportunidade excepcional de redefinir os términos de sua inserção na economia mundial. Maximizar sua competitividade na economia globalizada significa maximizar também suas vantagens comparativas, sobretudo a partir da abundância de recursos naturais e de sua relativa homogeneidade linguística e cultural. A integração da infraestrutura de energia elétrica permite multiplicar os benefícios da integração para o continente: geração de renda; garantia de fornecimento de energia segura, renovável e barata. Oferecem-se assim as melhores condições para consolidar um espaço econômico integrado, capaz de realizar o potencial produtivo da população sul-americana.
O artigo insere-se no projeto de pesquisa “Impacto dos Recursos Energéticos Distribuídos sobre o Setor de Distribuição”, desenvolvido pelo GESEL, financiado pelo Grupo Energisa e vinculado ao Programa de P&D da Aneel. Os autores, Nivalde de Castro, Lorrane Câmara e Max Ramalho, tratam de assuntos debatidos no congresso Brasil Solar Power, no contexto do avanço acelerado da Energia Solar Fotovoltaica. O artigo aborda os temas “comercialização de excedentes”, “questão tributária” e “financiamento”.
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The article is part of the research project “Impact of Distributed Energy Resources on Distribution Sector”, developed by GESEL with Energisa Group and linked to Aneel’s Research and Development program. The authors, Nivalde Castro, Lorrane House and Max Ramalho, deal with issues discussed in Brazil Solar Power Congress in the context of accelerated advance of Photovoltaic Solar Energy. The article discusses the topics “marketing surplus,” “tax issue” and “financing”.
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 promotion of a reliable and sustainable power system has as key drivers the development of smart grids associated with demand-side management schemes, diffusion of electric mobility, accommodation of larger shares of distributed generation, in particular microgeneration and the introduction of storage systems. In addition, these technological development vectors represent new business opportunities for several players (utilities, retailers, ESCOs, aggregator entities, etc.), which should be considered by regulatory guidelines accounting for technical efficiency, economic feasibility and tariff affordability. The technical and economic characteristics of the electricity sector (capital intensive, undifferentiated product, regulated tariffs, almost inelastic demand, need of instantaneous balance between supply and demand, etc.) do not induce that the process of technological innovation happens in an endogenous manner within the sector dynamics. Therefore, public policies have a role to play in this process. This communication presents an approach using Problem Structuring Methods to frame the problem of analyzing and evaluating technological innovations and associate incentive policies in the electricity sector. The results of this structuring phase using Soft Systems Methodology suggest a large number of issues that were organized as a hierarchy of objectives. These objectives will correspond to the criteria of a Multicriteria Decision Analysis methodology devoted to assessing the potential courses of action promoting technological innovation. This methodology should provide decision support to policy and decision makers to shape policies aimed at fostering more reliable and sustainable electricity systems.
The Annual Energy Production (AEP) estimated over the lifecycle of the project is one of the most important factors to determine the profitability of wind power project. The methods used to estimate the AEP in a wind farm requires an assessment of the uncertainties associated at all steps. To finance a wind power project, banks requires that the developer submit the uncertainties related to the estimation of AEP’s wind farm, to mitigate errors and increase the project reliability. The appropriate assessment of uncertainties is critical to determine the feasibility and risk in developing a wind energy project. This study presents the main sources of uncertainty in the energy estimate process in wind farms. This information is important for the correct analysis of the economic viability of the project.
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.
Higher efficiency and reliability of the electric system are important goals to be achieved. The increasing growth and importance of intermittent renewable energy sources and its massive incorporation into the electricity grid, given the efforts to diversify the energy mix and reduce the carbon emissions, bring new challenges to the sector, such as the need of higher levels of flexibility. In this context, demand-side flexibility measures come to light as a way of improving system reliability and, at the same time, defer the need for investments in the expansion of distribution and transmission grids, reducing the demand for additional generation capacity and allowing the shave of peak demand, resulting in a reduction of electricity costs. Among these measures, demand response figures as one of great importance. It is based on electricity consumers’ capability to respond to price signals, increasing the consumers’ role in ensuring system security in a cost effective way. The objective of this article is to examine some of the main challenges and opportunities for enabling demand response programs, taking some lessons from the international experience. An additional effort is to focus on Brazilian case. The methodology consists of bibliographic and documental review, with the analysis of challenges and opportunities, followed by an investigation of demand response programs in Brazil. This paper was developed under the framework of a project supported by the ANEEL’s R&D Program. It was found that technological requirements of demand response can be a great obstacle, as observed in some of the European countries cost-benefit analysis and in the Brazilian case. The Brazilian experience is by all means only incipient and takes advantage of a small part of the full demand response potential, but even in this condition, shows some positive results in efficiency.