For Daniel Steffens, partner in the Energy and Infrastructure Department at Urbano Vitalino Advogados, the Brazilian electricity sector is experiencing a time of opportunities, but also of risks that cannot be ignored.
In an interview with Canal Solar, he draws attention to problems such as curtailment – cuts in renewable generation that add up to billions in losses – and the review of tariff benefits, as well as the expected mitigation of discounts on TUST and TUSD.
For Steffens, both points could lead to a new wave of litigation, at a time when the sector needs legal certainty to sustain long-term investments.
In contrast, he emphasizes that energy storage is emerging as a game changer, capable of strengthening renewable sources and ensuring greater reliability for the system.
The lawyer points out that, in recent years, Brazil has built a significant base of solar and wind generation, but there is still a lack of regulatory policy that recognizes the value of flexibility and firm power, characteristics that can be delivered by batteries and hybrid plants.
"If there are no rules that encourage these services, the risk is maintaining an unbalanced system that penalizes investors and consumers," he warns.
Another critical point highlighted by Steffens is environmental licensing, considered one of the biggest bottlenecks in making new generation projects viable.
Even with the approval of the General Licensing Law, he notes that the overlapping of responsibilities between federal, state and municipal agencies and the slowness of processes can still hinder investments for years.
Land issues and conflicts with local communities, he says, compound this complex picture and require investors to have a multidisciplinary vision that goes beyond engineering and regulation.
In Steffens' assessment, regulatory modernization must advance rapidly on capacity markets, which have the advantage of remunerating not only the energy generated, but also the attributes of reliability and flexibility.
This change, argues the lawyer, could open space for a new cycle of investments in electrical infrastructure and at the same time reduce the risk of blackouts in the future.
He also sees the creation of specific rules for emerging technologies, such as green hydrogen, and for the complementary integration of natural gas with renewables as essential.
Regarding the energy transition, Steffens is emphatic. According to him, it's not yet possible to abandon fossil fuels, which act as a guarantee of reliability.
The challenge, he notes, is to redesign the role of these sources, creating adaptation clauses in contracts and establishing transparent rules for their gradual withdrawal from the system, so as not to compromise energy security.
When designing the future, Daniel Steffens puts storage and digitalization of networks, supported by artificial intelligence, as central elements of the new electrical matrix.
In his view, adequately remunerating these services, without compromising affordable tariffs, will be essential to attracting serious capital and consolidating the energy transition in Brazil.
"The sector must pursue regulatory predictability at all costs. This will be the true milestone of modernization," he concludes.
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