Government of MG says there is network exhaustion in Cemig concession areas 

O Government of Minas Gerais published, through official statement, that, at the moment, there are regions of the state in which the electrical network does not have technical capacity de receive new connections from photovoltaic projects de distributed minigeneration (between 75 kW and 5 MW of installed power).

The discourse adopted is the same as that which has been highlighted by the cemig (Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais) over the last few weeks. In almost the entire state, several professionals are having the srequests for your suspended projects for an indefinite period by the distributor on the grounds that there is “network saturation”. 

A dealership states that does not have drainage capacity of energy in part of its substations and that awaiting a statement from the ONS (National Electrical System Operator) to find out how to act to resolve the problem.

Because of the supposed problem, the Government of Minas Gerais orient the sector to access the "Minigeneration Availability Map” – tool created to show the areas of highest and lowest network saturation in the state.

“With Mapa, those interested in making investments can direct them to regions with immediate availability or wait for availability in regions that are currently saturated”, highlights the official document from the Government of Minas Gerais.

The executive also points out that Cemig is allocating around R$18,4 billion for improvements in energy distribution and that one of the ongoing programs would be “Mais Energia”, created to increase the number of energy substations in all regions of the state from 415 to 615 by 2027.

“Of the 200 substations, 64 have already been opened. However, new substations in regions with saturated load will already be opened without the possibility of connections other than those previously requested, due to the immense volume of requests”, highlights the State Government.

On her social media, Bárbara Rubim, vice president of distributed generation at ABSOLAR (Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy), highlighted that, if the difficulty of drainage in the region is, in fact, proven, the solution necessarily involves carrying out structural works in the areas under Cemig's concession.

“We have held several meetings with both Cemig and the Government of Minas Gerais and other bodies. It appears that there really is a network exhaustion in several regions of Cemig’s concession area,” he commented.

“Particularly, I don’t see a short-term solution. However, the consumer who obviously felt aggrieved can seek the Judiciary. There are also other solutions that can be adopted as we look for the quickest, quickest and most effective or possible way to resolve this,” she highlighted.