Brazil’s strategic R&D initative helps learn about energy storage integration into the grid

The Brazilian National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) has published a report on the strategic project No. 21/2016 of the PDI (Research, Development and Innovation Program) presenting the results of 20 projects which have demonstrated the insertion of energy storage systems into the national electricity sector.

The projects attracted a total of BRL 300 million ($ 55.5 million) in investment, an average of BRL 14 million each, and resulted in the publication of 11 patents.

According to ANEEL’s report, which is available in the Agency’s virtual library, a total of 29 IDP projects have applied for technical and commercial agreements for the insertion of energy storage systems into the Brazilian electricity sector. Of these, 21 were approved for initial evaluation and 20 were finalized. The main storage technologies developed were battery energy storage and hydrogen.

In their reports, the project developers also made suggestions for regulatory improvements for the insertion of storage systems.

These include introduction of a specific classification of storage assets, auctions involving storage resources and other flexibility technologies to provide operational reserve resources, and evaluation of energy storage in the provision of auxiliary services, taking into account requirements such as availability, operating time, ramping, among others.

Improving price signaling with greater temporal and local granularity, enabling the monetization of services such as temporary power shifting, stabilization of renewable generation, congestion relief, and deferral of transmission investments, and including storage asset services in the databases of transmission and distribution companies were also among the suggestions among others.

ANEEL plans to publish a regulation by the end of the year based on the contributions received in Public Consultation 39/2023, which could address some of these suggestions.

The lack of specific regulation has been an argument against the participation of battery storage systems in the next reserve capacity auction, although some stakeholders argue that the renewable energy plants collocated with BESS, being already regulated, would be eligible to compete.

ANEEL’s PDI call may also lead to more applications of batteries as assets in distribution networks. Cemig, which developed two projects in the call, now also has an open tender for the purchase of a distributed energy supply system, consisting of a 500 kWp solar plant and 1 MWh of battery storage, which will be incorporated into the distribution system, with the capacity to autonomously supply around 500 consumers in the municipality of Serra da Saudade.

From pv magazine LatAm