Text of the bill for the new regulatory framework for renewable energy, which is already in the Senate, establishes new tariff premises and should direct the gaze of plant managers and consortia to resources that allow delivering savings to customers within the parameters of distributed generation
O bill of the new regulatory framework for the distributed generation of renewable energy advances in Congress – it was approved by the Chamber and is now being processed on an urgent basis in the Senate -, and companies are already preparing to guarantee savings with the new rules. The regulation establishes new tariff premises and will accelerate plant managers, consortiums and cooperatives to look more at resources that allow delivering savings to customers. The distributed generation of renewable energy is the main part of the installed capacity of the source in the country. There are 6,6 GW in the model, which, added to the 3,6 GW of centralized solar plants, place Brazil on the list of the 15 largest countries in photovoltaic generation in the world. In addition to installed capacity, the number of integrator companies active in the market increased from around 14 at the end of 2020 to over 16 by June 2021, according to a study by Greener consultancy.
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“The imminent change in the rules of the renewable energy sector may have contributed to the acceleration of the market in the midst of an economic crisis, due to the previously unregulated benefits, and now creates a new moment for managers of plants and cooperatives to seek resources to ensure the economy for those who migrate to this model”, evaluates Jefferson Kobs, Product Manager of Way2, a company that has within its scope technology for managing the compensation of distributed generation credits.
Change in credit allowances within the renewable energy market
One of the main points of the Distributed Generation Legal Framework, once approved, is tariff compensation. Currently, credits are fully deducted from the energy bill, including tariff portions that do not correspond to generation, such as sectoral charges and transmission and distribution tariffs. The legal framework determines that consumers who participate in distributed generation pay separately some charges, such as the Tariff for Use of the Distribution System (Tusd) of “wire B”, which remunerates distributors.
That is, the credits generated will no longer be deducted from this portion of the energy bill. The text of the regulatory framework exempts, on the other hand, distributed generation agents from paying the availability fee – charged by the energy concessionaire, an amount on the electricity bill referring to the availability of the electricity network for the consumer to use it.
“With the changes in sight for consumers and distributors, companies that manage the credits of multiple consumer units need to observe more assertiveness and gain in this management to audit consumption data and have the balance of credits generated, guaranteeing savings and efficiency of the operation. The greater the portion of the tariff on which consumers cannot deduct the credits, the less attractive the business becomes and the smaller the expansion”, observes the Product manager at Way2.
Technology will be fundamental to manage changes in the regulatory framework of the renewable energy market
Today, the relationship of companies that manage energy credits for their units and that need to audit billing cycles with distributors is a learning experience. Units included in distributed generation with a credit quota and which, due to some problem with the generation or transfer of credits, have compensation different from that agreed with the consumer, need to be monitored daily so that companies have material to request re-invoicing from distributors, for example.
“With the changes in tariff compensation, it is another point that the manager needs to be aware of, precisely to guarantee the economy and consumer confidence. In scenarios of unbridled growth and the need for scalability, the use of technology devices has been supporting these managers”, comments Kobs.
GDSolar, states that the new legal framework will bring changes that should impact the focus of the work
For GDSolar, a company that offers solutions in clean and sustainable energy assets, the new legal framework will bring changes that should impact the focus of the work.
The company already operated with shared generation, but should expand this front after the publication of the law. For the president of GDSolar Holding, Ricardo Costa, technology will be fundamental for this moment, mainly due to the increased digitalization of the sector. According to him, the work will involve a much larger volume of information that needs to be managed between the mill, consumer and distributor.
“Technology is key to this. Having proper and well-thought-out scanning tools makes this action possible. Solar energy has an important leadership role in distributed generation. This happens not only because of the price of the equipment, but also because technology has evolved a lot and this set contributes to the expansion of distributed generation”.
Way2 has an energy credit management platform for remote self-consumption and shared generation companies and saw its distributed generation offer grow in the middle of the pandemic, increasing the number of customers by more than 3.000%.
