The growth of distributed generation in Brazil: impacts, opportunities and difficulties found

Local: International Council on Large Electric Systems – Cigré Section 46 – Paris – França
Descrição: In August 2012, through Resolution nº 482/2012, reformulated by the resolution nº 687/2015 the Brazilian Regulatory Electricity Agency (acronym in Portuguese, ANEEL) regulated the electricity generating mechanism in a distributed mode, connected to the distribution network (grid-tie) through a power compensation model. In this model, customers that deploy generation systems based on alternative energy sources (such as solar, wind and biomass) with up to 5MW can get benefits with the energy surplus generated and injected into the distribution network. This benefit called “Energy Compensation” refers to the right to receive energy credits (kWh) in proportion to the surplus of energy injected into the distribution network from distributed generation unit, respecting the schedule set in which this energy was generated. However, after a few years, various technical and economic difficulties have arisen making the distributed generation incipient within its initial expectation, although favourable weather conditions and tremendous growth of potential market.Thus, the focus of this paper is to present the evolution of distributed generation in Brazil, showing some photovoltaic case studies based on their technical characteristics and impacts on the distribution grid. The paper also discusses the main technical and economic difficulties faced for the growth of distributed generation. Through this analysis, we can identify and suggest technical and regulatory changes in order that distributed generation can achieve higher levels of penetration and can contribute to the diversification of the Brazilian energy matrix