IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2016 - 42

technical and economic. another problem is related to the
existence of large areas under the control of mining companies. these areas cannot be assigned for use by third parties.
from a technical view, revision and reinforcement of the
transmission system are essential, particularly considering technological upgrades, such as an automatic generation disconnection scheme for successful renewable energy integration.

Brazil: NCRES Regulation and
Incentives Versus the Mismatch
of the Transmission Network
the modernization of the Brazilian electricity sector began
with the state's decision to launch a privatization program. the
program included the breakdown of the supply chain into separate activities, namely generation, transmission, distribution,
and commercialization. in 1995, new public guidelines were
established regarding the auctioning of new energy generation
projects, the definition of independent power producers, free
access to transmission and distribution systems, and granting
consumers the freedom to choose their own their energy suppliers. in 2004, the model of the Brazilian electricity sector
was revised, with the adoption of some important improvements to make it less vulnerable to market uncertainties.
according to the Brazilian energy planning company,
in December 2014 the national grid had an installed capacity of 134 Gw, with 62% hydro, 15% thermal, 2% nuclear,
5% energy import, and 16% shared participation of biomass
plants, mini-hydro, wind, and solar plants. in terms of tariffs, electricity supply services in Brazil are well positioned
relative to Latin american and organization for economic
cooperation and Development (oecD) countries; the country's residential end-user rates were about Us$178/mwh in
2014, as shown in figure 4.

Development of Renewable Generation:
Past, Present, and Future
in recent years, wind energy has been successfully introduced in the energy matrix through auctioning. in late 2015,
450
396 403
400
US$/MWh
350
307 327
300
236 256
250
207 214
200
170 178
125
150
107 110
100
50
Spain

Denmark

Italy

Japan

United Kingdom

Greece

Sweden

Brazil

France

Turkey

United States

Canada

South Korea

figure 4. Residential electricity rates in Brazil compared to
OECD countries (2014).
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ieee power & energy magazine

Brazil had 281 wind farms distributed over 11 states. in
august 2015, the installed capacity was about 7,000 mw,
with a projection of a 5% stake in Brazil's total energy matrix
at the end of that year.
Until recently, photovoltaic generation in Brazil was restricted to a few farms in the northeast. the crisis caused by a
deficit of water resources, especially in the southeastern region
of the country, led to the transfer of a large amount of thermal
power plants operating on the basis of reserve contracts, which
has significantly increased energy prices. this critical stage has
greatly contributed to the development of renewable sources,
and several photovoltaic and wind energy auctions were implemented. in 2014, the first Brazilian auction specifically targeted
to photovoltaic energy took place. in this contest, 31 projects
with a total capacity of around 1,000 mw were chosen.
in november 2015, a second auction of reserve for that
year was held, with photovoltaic and wind farms participating. this auction chose 20 wind power generation projects
and 33 photovoltaic power generation projects and contracted
for 548.2 mw in wind energy projects and 1,115 mwp in
photovoltaic energy projects. the price of photovoltaic closed
at an average value of Us$77.60/mwh, while wind power
reached a final price of Us$53.10/mwh.
regarding micro-renewable generation, the national regulatory agency regulates micro- and mini-generation systems
connected to the distribution network. the new regulations
include important improvements, such as
✔ establishing agreements for self-consumption and remote-shared generation
✔ providing the possibility of sharing energy credits
among the headquarters and subsidiaries of business
groups
✔ allowing generation distributed to condominial systems (individuals and companies)
✔ increasing the maximum power for mini-generation
from 1 mw to 5 mw.

Future Challenges for
Renewable Energy in Brazil
the highest potential for wind energy is in the northeast of the
country, where many wind farms are concentrated. conversely,
the highest demand for energy is in the southeast, which faces
difficulties in transporting the energy due to the lack of transmission line capacity, causing significant problems for wind
farm developers. according to the Brazilian association of
wind energy, the largest gap between transmission lines and
wind farms occurred in 2012. Delays resulted in approximately Us$900 million in expenses to indemnify wind farms
that were ready but unable to sell power due to poor transmission capacity. thus, the government had to accelerate the planning of new transmission lines to incorporate new wind farms
and other power plants going into operation.
a recent government study indicates that investment of
around Us$1.7 billion is needed to transport power generated from the northeast of Brazil to southeast and regional
september/october 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2016