Next Wednesday, June 15, FGV Energia will conduct the launching of the Distributed Energy Resources Booklet (DERs) debate with the purpose of promoting a discussion on such resources, and how its inclusion may change the Brazilian power sector, at FGV headquarters building, in Rio de Janeiro.

The motivation to study DERs arises from recent events in the national and international scenarios. The Brazilian Electricity (SEB) is undergoing a period deepening the discussion on tradeoff between environmental concern and energy safety. With a reduced capacity of regulating reservoirs and consequent, almost continuous, flow of thermal plants since 2012, the search for energy solutions capable of diversifying the Brazilian matrix in a safe and clean way became a key challenge in the scope of national energy policies.

In the global scenario, the signing of the Paris Agreement in the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21), on December, 2015, strengthens the need to further discuss cleaner energy sources in Brazil. In addition, the growing change in power consumers’ behavior in other countries points to a new global trend in power demand, which will arrive in Brazil sooner or later. Consumers, a passive agent in the power sector model before, has been showing an increasingly active behavior in the way they demand power and in relation to the services they can extract from power consumption.Technology advancements, especially on the demand side, have an important role in this consumers’ behavioral change.

Such global and national trends, in addition to SEB peculiarities - predominantly hydroelectric generation and of large size, centralized operation and integrated transmission system basically all over the country - point to the importance of a more effective inclusion in the planning of other energy resources available. DERs stand out among these resources.

The event is divided into three panels debating the economic and regulatory aspects for including DERs in the electrical matrix; in addition to technologies, financing and incentives for their development. Those who are interested in participating in the launch should enroll on the website.