ADHERE TO GREEN AND LOW-CARBON
PROMOTE THE BUILDING OF A CLEAN AND BEAUTIEUL WORLD

Current Location:Green Industry Ecology > New energy > Project Matchmaking >

Blackout and electrical energy storage

ate of Issuance:2023-09-22

Source:

Preventing the participation of renewables with electricity storage in auctions is incompatible with technological neutrality and isonomy and reduces competition and competition in the sector, harming the entire Brazilian society with lower chances of reducing costs and prices in the supply of these services

The blackout in the Brazilian electricity system, which occurred on the morning of August 15 and left several states without electricity for hours, reignited the debate on the importance of the energy transition and the need for Brazil to accelerate its path to an increasingly competitive and decarbonized economy, assuming greater international prominence in the fight against climate change that threatens humanity and the country.

With continental dimensions and properly interconnected almost in its entirety by a vast transmission network, the Brazilian electrical system is robust and safe. However, there is room to improve this essential infrastructure of Brazilian society and reduce risks and losses caused by blackouts and blackouts. With improvements, we will be able to increase the flexibility of the system's operation and further accelerate the use of the immense potential of renewable resources available in the national territory, including sun, wind, biomass and water, which generate the vast majority of the electricity used by our population.

In this sense, one of the most strategic technologies to improve the Brazilian electricity matrix is the storage of electricity, with options ranging from batteries to pumping and storing water in reservoirs to generate electricity in times of need. Electricity storage will play an increasingly important role in strengthening the advancement of renewable sources and the decarbonization of the Brazilian electricity matrix, in addition to improving the security of supply, operational flexibility, quality of service and electric autonomy of Brazilian consumers.

According to a recent study by BloombergNEF, of the 411 gigawatts (GW) of storage projects expected by 2030 in the world, 61% will be in the management of centralized power generation plants, with emphasis on the use of batteries in large solar plants. This advance is related to the recent incentive policies announced by the United States government and the European Union, which bet on storage as part of measures to combat climate change and reduce dependence on natural gas from Russia. Thriving in several countries around the world, especially Germany, Australia, China, the United States and Japan, the electric energy storage market has barely begun in Brazil.

According to a report by the German government cooperation agency GIZ (Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), Brazil currently has about 150 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity storage systems implemented. The vast majority of these systems are micro-installations, located in remote regions of the Amazon. There are also some systems operated by commercial and industrial customers, as well as a large one, implemented at the Registro substation, in the state of São Paulo. With a capacity of 60 MWh, this system contributes to the security of electricity supply on the coast of São Paulo, especially during periods of high season, when the electricity demand increases strongly. It is very little for a country of the continental size of Brazil and which prides itself on being the largest electricity market in Latin America.

In Brazil, there are numerous strategic applications of storage technology to the National Interconnected System (SIN), which are still little used. One of them is the contracting of the so-called "capacity reserve", which is currently done via Federal Government auctions. Here there is a governmental bottleneck to be overcome: there are restrictions in the public notices of the Ministry of Mines and Energy that prevent the participation of renewable sources and storage of electricity in all modalities of these auctions, restricting part of the products to fossil and hydroelectric sources, although many times the storage of electricity with renewables could meet these demands more efficiently and at lower costs.

Preventing the participation of renewables with electricity storage in auctions is incompatible with technological neutrality and isonomy and reduces competition and competition in the sector, harming the entire Brazilian society with lower chances of reducing costs and prices in the provision of these services.

To unlock the potential of electricity storage to bring billions of reais in new investments and tens of thousands of new jobs to Brazil, we need to address three fundamental issues: (i) develop a specific regulatory framework for electricity storage, with clear rules that bring legal certainty and predictability to consumers, entrepreneurs and investors; (ii) reduce the excessive tax burden that currently discourages technology, equating it with renewable sources and making it accessible to consumers; and (iii) create new demand opportunities for electricity storage, including it in power and reserve capacity auctions, auctions of isolated systems to serve isolated and remote communities, as well as incorporating it into transmission and distribution infrastructures to make them more robust, resilient and reliable.

The energy transition in Brazil and in the world involves the expansion of investments in renewable sources, combined with an increasing use of electric energy storage technologies. The batteries bring more safety, operational flexibility and robustness to the operation of the Brazilian electrical system. They will also play a strategic role in helping to reduce the need for fossil sources, which are more expensive and polluting, in the Brazilian electricity matrix. Therefore, Brazilian regulation needs to keep up with the evolution of the market and technology, in line with the new demands of the electricity sector and consumers, as in the rest of the world.

Accelerating the participation of electricity storage in Brazil means not only bringing more robustness, flexibility and reliability to the electricity system, but also accelerating the decarbonization of the economy and the electricity matrix, as well as unlocking a new market, capable of attracting billionaire investments and generating thousands of local and quality jobs in Brazil.

Rodrigo Sauaia is CEO of ABSOLAR. Ronaldo Koloszuk is Chairman of the Board of Directors of ABSOLAR

Next Page: Fortaleza receives in November the first boat powered by green hydrogen
×Consult us

Telephone:010-68200638 、010-68207966

Email:biandq@cietc.org.cn 、 songxm@cietc.org.cn

Address:9th floor, building a, Yinling center, No. 1, consulate Road, Siming District, Xiamen, Fujian

Online Service Contact Us Top