Economic Feasibility of Photovoltaic Micro-Installations Connected to the Brazilian Distribution Grid in Light of Proposed Changes to Regulations

Gabriel Nasser Doyle de Doile, Paulo Rotella Junior, Priscila França Gonzaga Carneiro, Rogério Santana Peruchi, Luiz Célio Souza Rocha, Karel Janda and Giancarlo Aquila
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Gabriel Nasser Doyle de Doile: Renewable Energy Graduate Program, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa 58051-900, Brazil
Priscila França Gonzaga Carneiro: Renewable Energy Graduate Program, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa 58051-900, Brazil
Rogério Santana Peruchi: Department of Production Engineering, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa 58051-900, Brazil
Luiz Célio Souza Rocha: Department of Management, Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology-North of Minas Gerais, Almenara 39900-000, Brazil
Karel Janda: Faculty of Finance and Accounting, Prague University of Economics and Business, 13067 Prague, Czech Republic
Giancarlo Aquila: Institute of Production and Management Engineering, Federal University of Itajuba, Itajuba 35903-087, Brazil

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-14

Abstract: Brazil is currently undergoing changes to regulations on distributed generation (DG), specifically for solar energy micro-generation. The changes proposed by the Brazilian Regulatory Agency suggest that only the cost of energy be compensated to investors. The service costs and other charges related to energy tariffs must be divided among consumers. Investors with existing installations and class entities have contested these proposals, calling them “sun-fees”. To date, no scientific papers have been published discussing these changes. The new regulations propose an end to cross subsidies, where all consumers (even those who do not have DG) pay for the transmission and distribution systems. This study compares the economic feasibility of micro-generation before and after implementing the new standards proposed by the regulatory agency. We used data on average electrical energy demand, energy price, and solar radiation in different regions. The national averages were used as a base comparison with other scenarios. The results show that projects are viable for all analyzed scenarios, however, after implementing the proposed changes, the discounted payback time is extended. This, however, does not make projects unfeasible.

Keywords: regulation; cross-subsidy; distributed generation; micro-installations; economic viability; solar PV energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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