Brazil risks bottlenecks in power transmission, executives warn

Brazil is at risk of facing bottlenecks in energy transmission due to the large volume of renewable generation projects queuing up to be connected, while the paralysis at environmental regulator Ibama is affecting permitting for new power lines and substations.  

The problem could be exacerbated as energy-intensive green hydrogen production plants start to come off the drawing board.

"We're going to experience a mismatch between the construction of solar, wind and hydrogen plants and transmission lines," Luis Alessandro Alves, transmission firm Taesa's expansion and implementation director, said during the national meeting of electricity sector agents Enase in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. 

Camila Neves, project leader at Fortescue, one of the companies that signed MOUs to invest in green hydrogen in Brazil, said that the loads of these plants are extremely high, averaging 2GW. 

"This brings a new challenge for [transmission system] planning," said Neves.

Renato Guimarães, coordinator of expansion and studies at ISA CTEEP, also mentioned datacenters as a factor that will weigh on the system. 

"We're talking a lot about hydrogen, but there are datacenters, which also consume a lot of energy. We're already having to adapt and prepare for these new loads," he said.  

The executive underlined that it is essential to think about how to take advantage of the existing transmission system, which is idle at certain times of the day. 

Among the possible solutions to optimize the system is reconductoring of lines with special cables, which could increase their transmission capacity by 50% without the need for environmental permitting. 

Thiago Dourado, energy transmission superintendent at Brazil’s energy research company EPE, said that with the existing margins, the transmission system can absorb the loads of the first phases of the planned projects, but "grid extensions will be necessary in the medium term." 

In addition to energy storage, such as ISA CTEEP's successful project in Registro on the coast of São Paulo state, EPE recommends the installation of lagging transformers, which control power between independent systems.   

Brazil has held major energy transmission auctions in recent years, attracting around 60bn reais (US$11bn) in investments in the construction of more than 17,000km of lines and 19,440MVA in transformer capacity. 

The second auction of 2024 is scheduled for September, with the expectation of attracting 4bn reais to build 848km of transmission lines and 1,750MVA in transformer capacity.