TECHNICAL-ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR THE INSERTION OF PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS AND ENERGY STORAGE IN

TECHNICAL-ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR THE INSERTION OF PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS AND ENERGY STORAGE IN A BRAZILIAN INDUSTRY

Summary

This paper discusses a methodological alternative for studying the reduction of the cost of electricity in a company in the Brazilian industrial sector, based on a technical-economic feasibility analysis, which depends on factors such as cost of components, legislation and technological advances. Recent studies show that the technical-economic analysis has become increasingly favorable for the use of renewable energies, especially for residential consumers, but that there are still challenges to be overcome in the case of scenarios with storage. The study analyzed the technical-economic viability of install a hybrid system for generating electricity, consisting of photovoltaic panels and storage for batteries, in a pharmaceutical industry of medical devices. It was compared, applying simulation in the Homer Pro software, the current contract of the company in the free market with other tariffs of the concessionaire, and verified that the current contract is less favorable for the installation of the alternative system due to the cost of energy being lower than the distributor's tariff. From the results, the most viable option was identified as a hybrid system composed of the electrical grid with current contract with the addition of 3,200 kW of installed photovoltaic energy and current converter, and indicated that the system is feasible both technically and economically, without the installation of a storage system. However, the simple payback close to 8 years can be considered long, which can make its implementation difficult in practice depending on the policies of each company. The study suggests, from the test of hypotheses based on the 'what if' condition by the analysis of sensitivity of the software, that with the cheaper technologies of photovoltaic panels, as well as the increase of their efficiency and the variability of the price of energy tariffs, the implantation of distributed microgeneration in Brazilian industries can be better made possible. Keywords: Photovoltaic generation, Energy storage, Binomial pricing.