Impact of tax and tariff incentives on the economic viability of residential photovoltaic systems connected to energy distribution network in Brazil

摘要

The National electricity agency (ANEEL, Portuguese acronym) published in 2012 Brazilian regulation for connection renewable-based generation systems into electricity distribution grids. This regulation allows electricity consumers to install generation systems, connect into the distribution grid and inject the electricity, receiving credits that are deducted from the electricity bill. In addition to these incentives and to encourage the expansion of distributed renewable sources, tax exemptions are offered by the Federal and State governments. This work evaluated fiscal and tariff incentives granted for a 4-kW residential system in 35 distribution companies in Brazil for different regulatory scenarios. Using Net Present Value (NPV) and Payback, we quantified economic incentives and impacts in each scenario. Results show that amount of money from incentives is strongly dependent of tariff composition in each energy distribution company. For a scenario with all tariff components compensated (including the taxes), the amount of incentives provided range from 1.2 to 2.5 times the system cost, with an average of 1.78. Beyond that, for 33 of the 35 companies just the tax exemptions result in an amount higher than the cost of the system. The incentives on tariff elements (taxes not included) granted by the current regulation results in an amount higher than the cost of the system for 40% of the distribution companies. The current regulatory framework (tariffs and taxes incentives) results in incentives higher than the system cost for all 35 distribution companies. In the other hand, removing all incentives impact the average payback from 5.3 to 6.9 years. These conclusions show how GD's solar systems still depend on government incentives to continue increasing technology in Brazil and all the direct and indirect benefits for the energy sector and the whole of society.