A ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) opened on Tuesday (1st), during the Agency's 41st Board Meeting, Public Consultation 052/2022 with the aim of promoting changes in the regulation of generating plants' access to the transmission network.
According to ANEEL, the regulatory issue discussed is based on the premise that there is a mismatch between the expansion of transmission infrastructure and the generation expansion scenario, notably from wind and photovoltaic sources. Contributions will be accepted between November 7, 2022 and January 6, 2023.
Luiza Melcop, a lawyer specializing in the area of energy and infrastructure regulation, explains that the biggest difficulty is that there are no projections for an increase in consumption load in sufficient volume to cover the amount of installed power granted to generation, which was clearly aggravated by the race to obtaining the discount on TUSD/TUST.
“Among the data provided in the Regulatory Impact Analysis (AIR No. 02/2022), which supports Public Consultation 052/2022, the ANEEL reported that there is currently around 66 GW of installed power granted in the Free Energy Market, of which 79% have not had construction work started. This data contrasts with the fact that the physical guarantee balance of the electrical system is in surplus until 2027”, he points out.
“Thus, the data collected shows that generation plants may have obstacles in the viability of their implementation due to the absence of energy purchase contracts associated with the granted generation”, adds Luiza.
The lawyer also comments that the milestones for the start of CUST billing (Transmission System Use Contracts) must be aligned with the schedule published in the resolutions approving the grants.
“It is only possible to change them through recognition by ANEEL of cause excluding liability of the generating agent. This procedure implies that both projects that are viable for implementation and those that are not, enter the queue for access to transmission”, he explains.
She further explains that in cases where the generating agent is committed to the project and, given the imprecision of the operating conditions of the generating plants and flow restrictions pointed out in the Access Opinions, these regulatory requirements can lead to the scenario in which the generating agent contracts CUST with MUST (Transmission System Usage Amount) billing starting at a much earlier date in relation to the plant's actual implementation schedule.
“This movement causes the undue reservation of the connection point, compromising both the access of other users and the optimization of the use of the transmission network, in addition to allocating the cost distribution of the basic network inappropriately”, he assesses.
A ANEEL proposes as a regulatory alternative the elimination of access information, with increased availability of information about connection points on the ONS (National Electric System Operator) website, as well as the issuance of the access opinion subject to the presentation of a guarantee for the network reservation during the validity of the opinion.
Furthermore, it is suggested that the beginning of the execution of the CUST should be three years, from its signature and without being linked to the authorization granting schedule, with a charge being due for the network reservation while there is no entry into force. operation of the generating plant.
It is also proposed to present an additional guarantee for the signing of the CUST, capable of covering the charges for early termination of the contract, including cases in which the connection is not carried out by the generating agent.
Finally, it is important to highlight that the ANEEL did not deal in AIR No. 02/2022 with the promotion of a competitive procedure for contracting a flow margin for the access of generating plants to the SIN (National Interconnected System).
The possibility was brought by art. 2nd of Decree No. 10.893/2021 as a way of stimulating competition for access from generating plants eligible for the TUSD/TUST discount and which were located in regions with great competition for flow.
As considered in AIR nº 02/2022, despite the regulatory problem under analysis having been aggravated by the current scenario of the race to obtain the discount on TUSD/TUST, the regulatory study aims at the structural solution of the problem, which would only be possible through the change in procedures for accessing the transmission network.
The deadline for contributions to Public Consultation No. 052/2022 was set from 07/11/2022 to 06/01/2023, a period in which sectoral agents can offer subsidies for other compositions of regulatory alternatives aimed at improving the regulation of access to the network transmission.
