The large-scale development of microgrids in the energy sector in Brazil often comes up against the lack of more detailed regulation of this technology. In order to address this situation, ABMR (Brazilian Microgrid Association) is leading the development of the first Brazilian Technical Standard for Microgrids together with Cobei (Brazilian Committee for Electricity, Electronics, Lighting and Telecommunications).
To this end, a GT (Working Group) was created focused on developing industrial standards and reference architectures for the advancement of microgrids. According to ABMR, this group works on developing guidelines for planning and specifying projects for this sector.
The association also informed that the scope of the first Brazilian Technical Standard will have as reference an IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standard, IEC TS 62898-1 (2017), which provides guidelines for planning and specification of microgrid projects.
“According to the IEC standard, the microgrids considered are alternating current (AC) electrical systems with loads and distributed energy resources (DER) at low or medium voltage levels. The IEC TS 62898-1 (2017) standard also specifies key concepts such as isolated and non-isolated microgrids. Isolated ones do not have an electrical connection to a broader electrical energy system, while non-isolated ones can act as controllable units for the broad system and can operate in two modes: connected to the grid or islanded,” ABMR said in a press release.
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Also according to the association, the IEC TS 62898-1 (2017) standard, which serves as a reference for the future Brazilian standard, also covers the following scope:
- Application of microgrids, resource analysis, generation forecasting and load forecasting;
- DER and microgrid energy system planning;
- High-level technical requirements for DER in microgrids, for connecting microgrids to the distribution system, and for control, protection, and communication systems;
- Evaluation of microgrid projects.
All these topics are being studied by the ABMR GT to prepare a technical standard adapted to the country's conditions, which will now be integrated into the CB-003:008 Study Commission on System Aspects for Energy Supply at COBEI. Find out more on the website Cobei.
