CHALLENGES AND MEASURES TO INTEGRATE RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES AND STORAGE MEANS IN THE BRAZILIAN POWER SYSTEM AND ELECTRICITY MARKET

摘要

Brazil has increased the installed capacity of wind power plants due to its great wind potential, especially in the northeast and south regions, and due to the decrease in the final price of production, motivated by improvements in the technologies of wind turbine generators and plants, and the generation expansion model based on energy auctions. The evolution of the wind generation capacity in Brazil is from 8,744 MW in 2016 to 17,304 MW in 2020, which represents 6.5% and 10.1%, respectively, of the total installed capacity, of which 80% is installed in the Northeast region. Brazil has the highest capacity factor of wind generation in the world (42% in 2016). The main objective of the paper is to analyze, describe and present conclusions about the increasing complexity and challenges caused by the growing mix of the new energy sources, the great integration of renewables and means of Storage, as well as the impacts on expansion and operation of the Brazilian Power System at all levels and also in the electricity market. The first part of the paper presents the main characteristics of the Brazilian interconnected power system as well as highlights of the electricity market, including the current picture and the future scenario. The second part of the paper describes and analyzes the increasing complexity and challenges caused by the wide integration of renewables, as well as technical, economic and market impacts on both the interconnected power system and the electricity market. The third part presents measures to mitigate the risks for intermittent generation and to obtain adequate market performance. These proposals try to give better conditions to integrate intermittent generation at all levels considering the features of these sources and also the Grid Codes and Market Rules. The fourth part of the paper analyzes this new scenario and presents alternatives to solve the emerging problems considering the features of the Brazilian power system, the tradeoff between reinforcing the grid and implementing Storage resources, considering technical and economic issues and the impact on the power system and electricity market. The final part of the paper presents conclusions and remarks about the increasing complexity and challenges caused by the impacts on both the interconnected power system and the electricity market, considering all the involved questions, the proposals to change business and regulatory models to overcome the challenges, and the technical and economic benefits to be obtained.