Impacto da geração híbrida hidráulica-fotovoltaica no Brasil

Abstract

The growing demand for energy is common in both developed and under developing countries, because of the continuous population increase or the very progress of these countries. To meet this demand we must attend to the commitment of a clean and renewable generation of energy, aiming to reduce greenhouse gases and more severe socio-environmental impacts. Although the energy matrix of Brazil is predominantly hydraulic, the level of useful volume of the reservoirs has been showing smaller and smaller over the years, with a tendency to reduce the storage capacity. In this context, this research suggests a study concerning the joint operation of Irapé hydroelectric plant, which has 360 MW with a 120 MW photovoltaic power plant, in an attempt to evaluate the contribution of additional energy storage in the form of water level. With this, it was possible to observe that, for a photovoltaic power equal to that of a hydraulic turbine, the complementary generation was 258,045.30 MWh.year, contributing to a better predictability of the hybrid generation and to optimized use of the natural resources. The capacity factor of the hydroelectric plant went from 13.79% to 21.98% with the integration of the solar photovoltaic power plant. The reservoir had its total capacity restored over a period of 11 months of joint operation. An economicfinancial analysis was carried out to evaluate the feasibility of implementation, considering a revenue based on the remuneration of the settlement price of the differences (PLD) in the hourly basis. The estimated implementation cost regarding the PV plant was 2.86 R$ / Wp, from which the financial model obtained a 15.5% IRR and a positive NPV, thus indicating that the photovoltaic energy source has the potential to be privileged in this model.