According to a projection made by EPE (Energy Research Company), the energy transmission system in the northern region of Minas Gerais could require investments of approximately R$13,3 billion by 2031. Also according to the report “Expansion of Transmission Capacity in the Northern Region of Minas Gerais“, the existing system planned until 2025 in the region has no transmission margin.
The EPE study, which considered the effects of distributed photovoltaic generation in simulations for the first time, is divided into two stages. The installations recommended in the first stage have a total investment cost of R$6,5 billion, corresponding to approximately 2.360 km of new transmission lines, new substations or expansions of existing substations.
Reinforcements to the distribution network are also recommended, corresponding to 56 km of 138 kV transmission lines and two new 138 kV sectioning substations, with investments of around R$102 million. The second stage of the proposed solution, which will depend on the implementation of amounts greater than those provided in the first stage, includes the installation of 2.873 km of additional transmission lines and a new basic network substation, totaling R$6,8 billion in 2031.
About Minas Gerais
According to EPE, the northern region of Minas Gerais concentrates 46,7% of the state's entire predicted potential. Also according to the agency, the distribution of firm potential to be considered as input data for the study reaches a total of 451 MW. Added to this is an indicative potential of 1.413 MW of distributed solar projects.
Data from ABSOLAR (Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy) point out that Minas Gerais leads the state ranking of distributed photovoltaic generation with 815,3 MW of power – which represents 19,2% of the total installed in Brazil.
About EPE’s projection
EPE's projections fulfill the strategic role of reinforcing transmission capacity from the North region of Minas Gerais - which comprises the southern portion of this belt - to the main load centers in the Southeast region, located in the Center-South half of the State of Minas Gerais and in the States of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo.
“In this sense, in addition to representing an important expansion of local infrastructure that will favor the socioeconomic development of the north of Minas Gerais, from the point of view of the SIN (National Interconnected System), these projects make up the final path for connecting this belt to the centers of load from the Southeast region, resulting in gains in the flow capacity of the Northeast-Southeast interconnection”, said the research.
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