Investment in solar energy by the Federal Government would reduce the cost of the tariff flag

Since the beginning of September the flag has been in force Water scarcity for all Brazilian consumers — with the exception of beneficiaries of the social tariff and customers of isolated systems, such as those in Roraima and other remote areas.

According to the Federal Government, the increase in the tariff flag occurred to cover the costs of measures taken to meet the demand for electricity in the country. Among them, the activation of thermoelectric plants. 

“The Water Scarcity tariff flag signals to the consumer the severity of water scarcity and the high cost of energy in this scenario. It is an increase in the bill necessary to pay for additional thermoelectric dispatches. Furthermore, the extra flag serves to reinforce to consumers the need to reduce consumption”, explains Eduardo Faria, regulation specialist at Mercúrio Trading, a group that operates in the areas of energy and finance.

In the opinion of professionals in the solar sector, the current situation reinforces the strategic role of the photovoltaic source as part of the solution to diversify and strengthen the electricity supply in the country.

Ronaldo Koloszuk, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ABSOLAR (Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy), highlights that it is cheaper for the government to encourage solar energy, whether from large plants contracted at auction or through self-generation on rooftops and small plots of land, than asking the population to save energy. 

“Large solar plants generate electricity at prices up to ten times lower than emergency fossil thermoelectric plants or electricity imported from neighboring countries currently, two of the main factors responsible for the tariff increase on consumers”, he points out.

“Thanks to the versatility and agility of solar technology, just one day of installation is enough to transform a home or business into a small plant generating clean, renewable and affordable electricity. For a large solar plant, it takes less than 18 months from the auction to the start of electricity generation. Thus, solar is recognized as the champion in the speed of new generation plants”, adds Koloszuk.

For Hewerton Martins, president of Free Solar Movement Association, the adoption of this new tariff flag could have been avoided by regulatory bodies and governments investing in an incentive program for distributed solar energy. But according to him, the possibility still exists.

“There is still time to launch a super program for everyone to put solar energy on the roofs of their homes and businesses over the next 36 months. A plan for the country to generate energy and jobs in more than 5 thousand municipalities”, he comments.

According to the executive, such measures would result in positive impacts on the entire Brazilian population. “This would reduce costs with more expensive tariff flags due to the activation of thermoelectric plants, reducing losses in energy transmission and costs to consumers. Furthermore, it would save water in reservoirs and contribute to the recovery of the economy in the municipalities, as thousands of installers would be employed in several cities, boosting the recovery of the economy in the municipalities”, he highlights.

“But instead of encouraging GD, the solution found by ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) and the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy) was to adopt the Water Scarcity tariff flag and increase the consumer's cost. In addition to proposing and signing, on August 11 of this year, an agreement with associations of the electric sector that changed the text of PL 5829 that was voted on in Congress. This law will leave a gap after 12 months for new entrants, as it directs power to the ANEEL decide on new taxation levels within 18 months”, he assesses.

“It seems ironic, but at this time of high tariffs, instead of incentives, they proposed a “taxation agreement”. The question remains, why not 36 months, or more, without “taxes”? Since we need a lot of energy generation and jobs now, but the argument used by the agreement's interlocutors was that solar energy on the roofs of houses would increase Brazilians' bills, and it did, but due to a lack of energy”, adds Hewerton.

Despite the critical moment, the president of MSL believes that there is a positive way out of the current crisis. “The hope is that Minister Albuquerque and the board of directors of ANEEL raise awareness and call on the more than 150 entities representing organized civil society and other sectors of the economy that defend, in open letter to the MME, support for solar energy”.

“There is still time for the country to get out of this crisis, but we need the MME and the ANEEL "Take to the Senate a review of the agreement signed and voted in the chamber, giving at least 36 months or more to begin the transition to distributed solar energy. The time is now to encourage new consumers to generate energy in their homes and small businesses with subsidized credit lines", concludes Hewerton Martins. 

Presence of solar energy in Brazil

Currently, Brazil has more than 10 GW of operational power from photovoltaic solar sources in large plants and in small and medium-sized systems installed by consumers themselves. Together, photovoltaic systems represent more than 70% of the power of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, the second largest in the world and largest in Latin America. 

Since 2012, the solar source has attracted more than R$52,7 billion in new investments and generated more than 300 thousand jobs, according to a survey carried out by ABSOLAR. Data from ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) point out that in the GC (centralized generation) segment, the country has 3,5 GW of installed power in photovoltaic plants, equivalent to 1,9% of Brazil's electricity matrix. 

In DG (distributed generation), there is around 6,6 GW of installed power from the solar source. Solar technology is currently used in 99,9% of all self-generation connections in Brazil, leading the segment, 99,93% smaller than 500 kW (residential and small businesses).

When adding the installed capacities of large centralized plants and our own solar energy generation, the solar source occupies fifth place in the Brazilian electrical matrix. Recently, solar surpassed the installed power of thermoelectric plants powered by oil and other fossil fuels, which represent 9,1 GW of the Brazilian electrical matrix.