The enactment of Law 15.269/2025, resulting from Provisional Measure 1304/2025, inaugurates a new cycle for energy storage in Brazil. After years of regulatory uncertainty, the sector will now operate with its own legal concept and clear responsibilities. ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency).
For the market, this is a positive move: batteries are no longer treated as "generators" and are beginning to occupy an autonomous space within the regulatory framework.
“Energy storage now has a legal concept and regulatory clarity. It is provided for in the law as an activity parallel to generation, transmission, distribution and commercialization,” said Fábio Lima, executive director of ABSAE (Brazilian Association of Energy Storage Solutions).
According to him, the wording of the new law itself establishes that any agent, including consumers, may install systems and connect to the network, with the Agency responsible for defining the rules.
The change touches on a sensitive point: the way batteries are priced. Until now, the ANEEL It treated storage as the sum of two roles (generator and consumer), which resulted in the charging of what is called "double taxation".
The new law does not explicitly prohibit the mechanism, but it creates the basis for overcoming it. "Storage is a separate configuration and must have an appropriate tariff, not simply the sum of the tariffs of a generator and a consumer," says Lima.
Another structural advancement is the recognition of the battery as a tool for grid access. The regulator may require capacity, flexibility, or dispatchability as a condition for connection, something that should redefine both the expansion of generation and distribution planning. ANEEL "You will be able to set minimum storage levels when there is an impact on the grid, whether from generation or consumption," he explains.
The law also reconfigures the capacity reservation policy, creating a competitive mechanism to remunerate systems capable of offering power, flexibility, and rapid response. Lima believes this point could open a broad market for storage. “A renewable generator that currently suffers from curtailment could operate co-located systems and, in addition to reducing outages, be remunerated through the competitive mechanism. This could finance the projects,” he said.
On the incentives side, the REIDI (Special Incentive Regime for Infrastructure Development) was preserved after facing the risk of a veto. "The projected budget of R$1 billion per year provides security for entrepreneurs, and the REIDI (Special Incentive Regime for Infrastructure Development) has become quite broad, practically covering any type of project involving storage," he states.
The law provides for two routes to contract storage: via transmission or via capacity reservation. “With transmission, you have a defined location and a longer planning horizon, which can delay contracting. With capacity reservation, the auction can be held in the coming months, with operation starting in 2028,” explains Lima.
Given the power deficit already pointed out by the ONS (National System Operator) and EPE (Energy Research Company), ABSAE's assessment is that the country will need both solutions. "The consumer will benefit from both," the executive emphasizes.
The controversy surrounding capacity sharing: generators paying for everything on their own.
While the regulatory framework is seen as an achievement, the model for contracting batteries as a reserve capacity has become the main focus of criticism from the association. The law stipulates that, unlike other sources, the cost of BESS systems will be paid exclusively by the generators.
According to Lima, the design is "anti-egalitarian." He argues that there is no technical reason to distinguish battery storage from other solutions that benefit the consumer.
"Consumers pay for gas, coal, small hydroelectric plants, and biomass because they benefit from the security and resilience of the system. Why shouldn't they participate in the cost-sharing of storage systems, which also offer flexibility, reduced waste, and lower charges?" he asks.
The indirect tariff impact, he says, will fall on the consumer himself. "By shifting this burden to the generator, it ultimately comes back to the consumer," Lima states.
According to studies commissioned by ABSAE, storage can be 26% to 33% more economical than new gas-fired power plants for flexibility purposes.
The lack of clear parameters to define which generators will pay the charge is another critical point. “If the intention was to include generators in the cost sharing, the law should have provided more criteria. What are the criteria? Load profile, physical guarantee, capacity factor, dispatchability? It's too broad and creates uncertainty,” says the executive.
Despite the noise, Lima states that the model should not stall the reserve capacity auction currently under public consultation. He recalls that the country has already held auctions before regulating the allocation, as in 2021, and only defined the rules on the eve of operations. "There is no reason to interrupt the ongoing auctions. The rules can be regulated later," he concludes.
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Finally, putting aside the whining, the taxpayer finances all of this with the tariff and indirect financing; the price will never actually go down, only up. It's a pain; besides putting up with this complaining, we have to support this bunch of bloodsucking scoundrels.