Brazil to discuss curtailment compensation for PV generators
Brazil’s electric power watchdog Aneel has opened a public consultation on the procedures and criteria for calculating and paying for the curtailment of photovoltaic plants.
Curtailment, a consequence of the boom in renewable energy generation projects in recent years, is among the main headwinds Brazil’s PV solar power sector is expected to face in 2025.
The issue has created friction between the distributed generation (DG) and centralized generation (CG) segments concerning the sharing of the financial burden of curtailment.
Wind power association Abeeólica intends to propose that DG projects begin sharing the cost of mandatory generation cuts.
So far, these losses have been borne exclusively by centralized generators, impacting solar and wind power investment plans.
At the end of January, Abeeólica warned that overturning an injunction guaranteeing compensation for generators affected by curtailment would discourage investors.
2024 curtailment
Curtailment of solar and wind plants reached the equivalent of 400,000 hours in 2024, according to Volt Robotics, a consultancy specializing in data science and artificial intelligence in the electric power sector.
In total, 1,445 solar and wind plants were prevented from generating at certain times of the day last year.
The cuts impacted the northeast region the most at 330,000 hours, or 75% of the total. The states most affected were Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte and Bahia.
Around 65% of cases are related to problems in the electricity grid, which include difficulties in transmission infrastructure, such as undersizing of lines, delays in works and maintenance stoppages, as well as possible instabilities that could be caused by generation and equipment failures.
