Brazilian solar association says batteries can alleviate weather-related blackouts

Frequent power outages in Brazilian cities caused by extreme weather events, such as the one in the state of São Paulo recently that affected more than 2 million customers, have increased interest in battery energy storage systems (BESS).

That is the assessment of the Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy (Absolar). As batteries have seen a reduction of around 90% in their prices since 2009, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), storage systems are becoming an increasingly relevant opportunity to accelerate the energy transition among consumers when installed in homes, businesses, industry, rural properties, and public buildings.

“The increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in Brazil and around the world, such as Hurricane Milton that devastated the United States, highlights the urgency of accelerating the energy transition,” said Samir Moura, coordinator of Absolar’s ​​Electrical Energy Storage Working Group. “It also demonstrates the need to incorporate, both in the electricity sector and among consumers, new technologies to store the clean and competitive electricity generated in abundance in Brazil by renewable sources such as solar energy.

“By combining photovoltaic systems with batteries consumers, whether in homes, small businesses, or rural areas, as well as those using essential public services such as health and public safety, will have greater autonomy, independence, and electrical security.”

Rodrigo Sauaia, CEO of Absolar, said another essential function of batteries combined with solar arrays is environmental sustainability. He said the combination of the technologies can be used to replace, in a clean, silent, and competitive way, fossil-fuel diesel generators that are common in condominiums and service establishments in general. Gensets are more polluting, noisy, and emit greenhouse gases.

“In addition to having significant environmental benefits, renewable sources combined with electricity storage can alleviate pressure on electricity tariffs,” said Sauaia. He added, “This can reduce the effects of increases in inflation which harm families’ purchasing power and the competitiveness of productive sectors. Thus, in this challenging scenario, solar energy with batteries presents an interesting solution for consumers to protect themselves from climate disasters and tariff flags,” referring to the system Brazil uses to indicate wholesale electricity prices are rising because of weather related events.

From pv magazine Brasil.