2014-07-14
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Between June 30th and July 4th, 2014, six Brazilian experts participated in a mission to the European Union to learn about smart grid experiences. In Italy, France and Spain, they visited regulators, transmission and distribution companies and electricity suppliers and manufacturers of smart grid products. The main objective of the mission, which was sponsored by the EU-Brazil Sector Dialogues Support Facility (MOP / Delbra), was to provide input for the formulation of a national policy for smart grids, an effort that has been led by the Brazilian Association of Industrial Development (ABDI).
First, the Brazilian delegation visited the Italian Authority for Electricity, Gas and the Hydro System (AEEG), in Rome, where it saw up close smart grid demonstration projects and received information about the impact of renewable energy on Italy’s electric grid, warnings to consumers about their energy consumption and regulatory incentives for smart grids. On another visit, the delegation went to Acea SpA, the electricity distributor of the Italian capital. In Milan, the group visited Enel Energy, a distributor already working with tools that Brazil is interested in employing, such as network management, and the infrastructure for smart metering and electric mobility.
In France, the experts went first to Grenoble to visit the headquarters the G2ELab, a laboratory with several smart grid projects, both alongside educational institutions and private companies. In Chambéry, they visited the Energy Pool, an aggregator of the electric system that helps transmitters, distributors and end users through flexible electricity supply contracts. In Paris, the group visited the Schneider Electric headquarters, where they saw products developed for industrial and residential use with a focus on smart grids and energy efficiency.
Valencia, Spain, was the last leg of the trip. The Brazilians were at Iberdrola’s headquarters, where they learnt about the company's experience with electronic smart meters. Iberdrola has already installed about 2.8 million of these meters across Spain and by the end of 2014 installed unites are expected to reach 3.7 million.
For the general coordinator of the Sector Technologies of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), Mr Eduardo Soriano Lousada, the mission yielded multiple results. "It was very important to see how the process of installing smart grids is taking place in countries that are more advanced in this field. And in addition to information gathering, the mission also contributed to increase bilateral partnerships with the European Union," he said.
The information obtained in the EU will be presented at a seminar to be held in Brasilia in September this year, with the presence of suppliers and manufacturers of electric power equipment, transmission and distribution companies and government representatives. European experts from the institutions visited in the mission will also participate in the event, which will be sponsored by the EU-Brazil Sector Dialogues Support Facility.
From landlines to smartphones
According to Mr Dante Hollanda, a member of the MCTI’s General Coordination of SectorTechnologies and one of the participants in the mission, when fully implemented, the smart grid will generate a technological breakthrough similar to that experienced from the landline to the smartphone. "The networks will carry various types of information, not just electricity. In Germany, consumers are already being informed through a display of power outages and the time at which the energy will be cheaper. It is possible, for example, to connect a device to the washing machine so that it starts working as soon as the utility announces the time of lower-priced energy," he explains.
Besides the two MCTI representatives, the mission also comprised technical staff from the ABDI, the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel), FINEP Innovation and Research and the Association of Infrastructure and Private Telecommunication Systems Proprietors (APTEL).
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