THE BRAZILIAN DISTRIBUTED PHOTOVOLTAIC MARKET

Abstract

The publication of Regulation RN ANEEL 482/2012 by the Brazilian electricity regulator ANEEL in 2012 established the onset of the distributed generation market for grid-connected solar photovoltaics in Brazil. Following the development, trends, and difficulties in this market is of utmost importance for the orderly and sustainable adoption of this benign technology, and for the improvement of the boundary conditions for a more widespread use of PV in the country. In this context, Instituto IDEAL carried out an online survey with a large number of Brazilian PV system installers enrolled in the “Mapa de Empresas do Setor Fotovoltaico” (PV installer companies map) of Instituto IDEAL’s America do Sol Program, and 106 complete questionnaires were received. Results show that more than half of the respondents did not complete a single PV installation in 2014, showing the infancy of this market in Brazil. The average time for processing a connection request is still longer than what ANEEL establishes as maximum, but it has improved over the previous year. While in 2013 the average waiting time for a request to be processed was larger than six months, in 2014 it took four months and three weeks on average. As far as prices are concerned, for PV systems up to 5 kWp DC, the national average in 2014 was R$ 8.81/Wp, which is pretty much the same nominal price as in 2013. PV system integrators found that processing the interconnection permit to access the distribution utility’s power grid was the largest hurdle. Simplifying and standardizing the utility connection procedures and requirements was pointed out as the most important aspect to improve. Proper training of utility staff processing PV system interconnection requests was also identified as an urgent measure needed to improve and accelerate the process and increase consumer satisfaction.