Analysis of the insertion of solar Photovoltaic generation in large consumers of Rio de Janeiro: A Case Study

Abstract

The last few years have shown an exponential growth in the use of photovoltaics in the world. The worldwide installed capacity of 23 GW in 2009 reached the expressive mark of 139 GW in 2013, being the European continent the holder of the largest portion of it (59% or 81GW). The most recent estimates describe a still small market in Brazil, with only 20 MW of installed capacity (EPE 2014) and mostly located in remote areas not covered by the interconnected system. Nevertheless, the growth potential of the domestic market is promising, greater even than that presented by the leaders in the use of this source. In this paper it is presented an implementation of a solar photovoltaic project in one medium voltage client of the distributing utility of Rio de Janeiro (LIGHT). The choice of this client was based in a previous work by (Carmo, 2014 & 2015) that used a fuzzy logic system to classify the potential medium and high voltage clients of LIGHT based on the matching of their weekdays load shape curves and the corresponding daily solar radiation curve in Rio de Janeiro. The results show that, depending on the values of key variables (tariff, rate of exchange and price of equipment) the project is economically viable.