On October 25, 2017, National Electric Power Agency (“ANEEL”) published Resolution No. 786/2017 (and republished it on October 27, 2017), whereby the referred agency amended Resolution No. 482/2012 (“RES No. 482/2012”), which establishes the general conditions for the access of distributed microgeneration and minigeneration to the electric power distribution systems and creates the Electric Power Compensation System (“SCEE”).
Briefly, the distributed microgeneration and minigeneration system allows consumer units to have small generating stations for the production of electric power, which is injected into the distributor networks and later compensated with the consumption of the same consumer unit or another unit of its own ownership, causing the consumer unit to pay less (or even nothing) for the consumption of electric power.
The main objectives of the distributed microgeneration and minigeneration are: (i) to postpone investments in expansion of the network; (ii) to reduce the load on transmission and distribution networks; (iii) to reduce losses; and (iv) to diversify the power matrix.
The published changes were the result of the Public Hearing No. 37/2017, which received contributions between July 6th, 2017 and April 8th, 2017 and a public hearing session.
Among the contributions received, the discontent of the agents in amending RES No. 482/2012 at this moment was emphasized, since the resolution itself already foresaw that a review would happen until December 31st, 2019. Thus, a large part of the contributions were in the sense that ANEEL should maintain the existing rules on distributed microgeneration and minigeneration, with a focus on the predictability of the Agency’s actions and regulatory stability, with which ANEEL’s technical area agreed.
However, ANEEL’s Board, contrary to the position of the agents and the Agency’s own technical area, decided to change RES No. 482/2012 at this moment, modifying the following points:
– Extension of the concept of distributed minigeration
The maximum installed power was altered so that a hydro power source generating plant can be classified as distributed minigeneration, going from 3MW to 5MW, matching the other sources of electric power.
Thus, the “power generating plant with an installed power above 75 kW and less than or equal to 5 MW and using qualified cogeneration, according to ANEEL regulations, or renewable sources of electric power, connected to the distribution network through consumer unit installations” is now classified as a distributed minigeneration.
ANEEL’s General Director, Romeu Rufino, was against this amendment because he considered that such alteration was not urgent and that ANEEL could wait to evaluate it when the standard was revised (until December 31st, 2019). However, he was outvoted at the Board Meeting.
– Exclusion of existing generation projects from distributed microgeneration and minigeneration
Paragraph 1 was included in article 2 of RES No. 482/2012 to exclude the “…rating as distributed microgeneration and minigeneration of generation plants that have already been subject to registration, concession, permit or authorization, or that have entered into commercial operation or had their electric power accounted for under the CCEE or directly committed to the concessionaire or permission holder of electric power distribution, and the distributor must identify those cases.”
ANEEL introduced this barrier because it found that the vast majority of the distributed microgeneration and minigeneration generating stations were not new plants but rather existing plants that chose to connect as if they were consumer units to participate in the energy compensation system electric power, distorting the objectives of the creation of the distributed microgeneration and minigeneration, which is to foment new business and to enable new sources of electric power generation.
Additionally, paragraph 2 was included in article 2 to clarify that the above mentioned barrier does not apply to the projects that have filed the request of access to the distributor in date before the publication of RES No. 786/2017, in order to guarantee the regulatory and legal security of the entrepreneurs who have already made investments in order to set up their plants in distributed microgeneration and minigeneration.
For further clarification on the contents of this memorandum, contact:
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Rosi Costa Barros
rosi.barros@nbfa.com.br
(11) 3707-8370
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William de Figueiredo Lins Junior
william.lins@nbfa.com.br
(11) 3707-8370
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Luisa Tortolano Barreto
luisa.barreto@nbfa.com.br
(11) 3707-8370
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