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Page 2: Northeast Group reports Brazil's Smart Grid Market Will Reach $36.6B by 2022 >> Editor's note: Michael Wiebe is a consummate smart grid insider. He runs a consulting firm that has supported over $7 billion and 55 million devices in successful smart grid projects in the U.S. and seven other countries since 1996. He is currently supporting four projects. One is integrating large-scale variable energy resources into the grid. Another is pursuing real time Volt/VAR optimization and load control for peak load control. Others deal with traditional AMI and distribution automation. Michael was one of the sector's early pioneers. So when I heard he was just back from Latin American, I asked him to share his insights on the progress of that region. – Jesse Berst
By Michael Wiebe
Brazil at the forefront
“Brazil is at the Latin American forefront pursuing grid modernization for its electric utilities,” notes Connie Durcsak, UTC’s President and CEO. “Given our extensive advocacy efforts concerning utility information and communications technology interests, UTC was invited by our Latin America members to host a Summit to explore the policy, market and technology imperatives specific to this region.”
. Brazil already has clean and renewable energy covered -- 77% of its energy is supplied by hydro-electric resources. Hence, Brazil’s policy focus is not on integrating renewable energy sources into the grid. Rather, its challenge centers on lowered distribution tariffs, universalization, improved power quality and loss reduction.
A major market opportunity
Latin America is a huge smart grid market opportunity for products and services... and Brazil is the leader. The Latin American market has a land area roughly equal to North America and a population of about 371 million, about the same as the U.S. and Canada combined. Brazil has about 195 million people and over 60 million electricity meters, over 50% of all of Latin America. The term “BRIC” represents the fastest growing emerging global economies where the “B” is for Brazil which surpassed England in 2011 to become the world’s sixth largest economy with a 5.7% growth rate.
The Brazilian government plans to invest U.S. $60 billion by 2014 in its energy sector, with smart grid technologies a top priority. For instance, the government has a target of 63 million smart meters by 2021. However, the economic justification challenge is significant, with average monthly energy use ranging from 50 to 300 kWh and customer densities ranging from ten to thousands per square mile.
The value in being first to be second
Brazil’s rapidly growing economy needs major grid enhancement. Based on the strong leadership and collaborative approach demonstrated by senior government, utility, supplier and UTC representatives at the symposium, Brazil appears poised to be the smart grid driving force in Latin America. The government is paying close attention to lessons learned in the U.S. For instance, the failure to effectively communicate value to the customer resulting in customer pushback and opt-out confusion. In Brazil’s case, being first to be second will allow them to progress more effectively. They can bypass partial and pre-cursor solutions and go straight to a connected smart grid solution (to paraphrase Cisco).
Other interesting tidbits from the conference
The Symposium demonstrated the universality of utility and customer needs among the Brazilian, European, Canadian and other participants. One novel discussion proposed customer meter ownership in conjunction with AMI to expedite adoption. Papers described multiple pilots covering PMUs, DA, meter reading and others. A neighborhood-area-network (NAN) discussion included a new 450 MHz LTE option. .
“We are pleased that UTC has secured Brazilian government and utility support to establish UTC America Latina to help meet the utility industry’s information and communications technology needs throughout the region,” said Ron Beck UTC’s Chairman of the Board. “We look forward to serving as the voice of critical infrastructure communications in Latin America.“
More on Latin America…
Latin America's first smart meter project now complete
Where the money will be next in smart grid (hint: think emerging markets)
Brazil smart grid playbook: kicking it to the goal
Page 2: Northeast Group reports Brazil's Smart Grid Market Will Reach $36.6B by 2022 >>
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