Brazil’s smart grid initiatives

1 October 2011 Geoff Zeiss

Brazil was tenth among the world’s countries in smart grid investment in 2010, and is expect to rise to sixth in the future. It is forecasted that the smart grid market in South America will reach over $25 billion by 2020 led by Brazil and followed by Argentina and Chile and other countries. 

I have been to Brazil over the past years a number of times and have found that the market drivers for smart grid in Brazil are quite different from North America. 

Non-technical losses are a major source of lost revenue for electric power and water utilities in Brazil, and smart grid technologies especially distribution system automation will help in identifying where the losses are occuring and in finding a socially acceptable solution.

Brazil is hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics and is working to increase the reliability of the electric power system to prepare for these events.

According to Andre Pepitone da Nobrega, Director of ANEEL, the national electric power regulator, Brazil is currently drawing up regulations for smart meters so they can be certified by INMETRO [Brazilian National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality] and made available commercially.  The next step will be to work out the National Meter Replacement Plan with the Ministry of Mines and Energy. Regulations will also be drawn up by ANEEL, and there will be a public hearing where all parties are allowed to participate.

ANEEL has announced tentative plans for a nationwide rollout of 63 million smart meters by 2021.  Large scale smart meter deployment is expected to begin in 2012.

Two major smart grid pilot projects underway in Brazil are

Other smart grid pilots are underway as well.

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss has more than 20 years experience in the geospatial software industry and 15 years experience developing enterprise geospatial solutions for the utilities, communications, and public works industries. His particular interests include the convergence of BIM, CAD, geospatial, and 3D. In recognition of his efforts to evangelize geospatial in vertical industries such as utilities and construction, Geoff received the Geospatial Ambassador Award at Geospatial World Forum 2014. Currently Geoff is Principal at Between the Poles, a thought leadership consulting firm. From 2001 to 2012 Geoff was Director of Utility Industry Program at Autodesk Inc, where he was responsible for thought leadership for the utility industry program. From 1999 to 2001 he was Director of Enterprise Software Development at Autodesk. He received one of ten annual global technology awards in 2004 from Oracle Corporation for technical innovation and leadership in the use of Oracle. Prior to Autodesk Geoff was Director of Product Development at VISION* Solutions. VISION* Solutions is credited with pioneering relational spatial data management, CAD/GIS integration, and long transactions (data versioning) in the utility, communications, and public works industries. Geoff is a frequent speaker at geospatial and utility events around the world including Geospatial World Forum, Where 2.0, MundoGeo Connect (Brazil), Middle East Spatial Geospatial Forum, India Geospatial Forum, Location Intelligence, Asia Geospatial Forum, and GITA events in US, Japan and Australia. Geoff received Speaker Excellence Awards at GITA 2007-2009.

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