Brazil approves ‘historic’ net metering revision
The National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) in Brazil has approved a revision of the country’s net metering policy for small-scale renewable energy systems. Referred to as ‘virtual net metering,’ this means any company or consumer can install an energy system at different points of electricity use and receive credits, which can be used to offset consumption costs on other units.
According to Rodrigo Sauaia, the director of Brazil’s solar industry association, Absolar, the revision places Brazil as among the most forward-thinking countries in this sector. Sauaia said the revision clears up areas of doubt as companies and subsidiary companies are now able to share their energy under net metering.
Under the new rules Brazil’s ANEEL expects 4.5 GW of renewable energy installations by 2024, pv-magazine has written.
Unlike the negative backlash distributed energy owners have received from numerous US utilities seeking to renegotiate or eliminate net metering policies, the outlook is different in Brazil. Here the number of installed small-scale distributed generation energy systems remains relatively small. According to Sauaia, there are currently 1,300 installed systems connected to the grid, with 96% of them using solar PV.
Under this revision, Brazil now has ‘virtual net metering’, meaning any company or consumer can install an energy system at different points of electricity use and still get credits, which can then be used to offset consumption costs on another unit.
Sauaia has stated this was already in place, but the current revision serves to eliminate any areas of doubt as companies and their subsidiaries can now share electricity credits under net metering. Credits will now be valid for five years — an increase from the previous three years.
The ANEEL revision is expected to create new business opportunities where a group of business customers will be able to invest together in a single PV system and reduce their consumption from the grid based on how much each entity has invested in the system.
Sauaia added this perspective: “This is an important way to give scale and to multiply interests in distributed solar.”
Image: Brazil via Shutterstock
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