The Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI), in partnership with the Institute of the Association of Companies Proprieting Infrastructure and Private Telecommunications Systems (iAptel), presented on June 11th, during the Workshop on Intelligent Electric Networks, the result of the mapping of National Suppliers of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to Intelligent Electric Grids (REI).The study is unprecedented in the country, has 2,000 pages and provides detailed information on companies, research and investments in the sector, in addition to pointing out the main bottlenecks and actions that can help to develop the national industry linked to the segment.
According to the study, more than 300 national suppliers of information and communication technology for smart grids, 126 research centers for development and innovation in the segment and 60 concessionaires participate in this sector in the country, with investments that currently exceed R$ 1 billion in area. It is estimated that this amount will reach R$ 3 billion in the 2013/2014 biennium.
The technological areas incorporated by smart grids are: consumption management, intelligent buildings, information technology, telecommunications, insertion of electric vehicles, energy storage, intelligent metering, distribution automation and distributed generation.
Brazilian legislation and investments
According to Brazilian legislation, concessionaires need to invest up to 0.5% of their revenue to develop actions related to research and development in the sector, which, combined with the investment from Inova Energia, Special Regime for Broadband – RPNBL Redes – Smart Brasil Maior Plan Grid, Telecommunications Tax Exemptions, among other initiatives, help to promote the development of Intelligent Electric Grids. In addition to optimizing consumption, REI improves the quality of energy distribution, allows the inclusion of distributed mini and micro generation, improves energy efficiency indices and promotes more effective energy control for the country.
There are already positive examples, such as the demonstration projects developed in Búzios (RJ), Barueri (SP), Sete Lagoas (MG), Aparecida (SP), Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Fernando de Noronha (PE), among others. Actions range from the installation of meters and transformers with intelligent technology to solar panels integrated into the electrical grid. In some cases, the consumer stops just buying and starts producing energy, being able to return the surplus and have credit with the concessionaires. The use of modern resources of information and communication technologies associated with the energy network allows the consumer to have effective control of what is consumed and generated.
Mapping is one of the activities foreseen in the “Brazilian Program for the Development of the Supplier Industry for Intelligent Electric Grids”, proposed by ABDI last year. It is known that Brazil has a potential market of more than 120 million smart residential electronic energy meters. Taking advantage of this demand can generate opportunities for the development of Brazilian industry, especially in the case of smart meters, sensors and public lighting, which involve sufficient scales to enable plants with international competitiveness.
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