According to the British tech startup, their HIT replaces the passive transformer with a real-time control node, regulating voltage and reactive power with millisecond-level precision by using magnetics.

This aims to stabilise power flows and give the grid operator a much-needed tool of active intervention.

IONATE claims that the transformer will be able to increase the grid’s tolerance for renewables and the amount of power it can carry while minimising wasted power on the way.

Ultimately, states the 2019-launched startup, they will gradually transform the network into a flexible smart grid, optimising power flows across the whole system.

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The project has already commenced with a design study and will continue with testing with EDP’s technical centre Labelec, before live deployment with E-REDES in Portugal and Spain, as well as in the Brazilian market with EDP.

Beyond the initial trial-phase, IONATE’s HITs are planned to stay in the grid as permanent assets and help its transition over the next years.

EDP’s collaboration with IONATE follows their participation in two key innovation programs: Free Electrons, the world’s largest innovation programme in the energy sector, co-led by EDP, and Energy Starter, EDP’s collaborative innovation programme, launched with the aim of attracting innovative and disruptive startups and scaleups capable in the energy sector.

Commenting on the collaboration was Luís Manuel, executive board member of EDP Innovation. He stated that, “In response to the imperative of accelerating the energy transition, EDP is actively engaged in transformative projects.

“The IONATE Hybrid Intelligent Transformer (HIT) has the potential to be a game-changer, replacing conventional passive transformers with state-of-the-art real-time control nodes. This strategic partnership not only fortifies grid stability and resilience but also aligns with EDP’s commitment to innovation and its unwavering dedication to shaping a smarter and more efficient energy landscape.”

IONATE founder & CEO Matthew Williams said that EDP’s “bet on early-stage innovation shows just how urgently the grid needs new technologies to deliver on our sustainable future.

“We are so proud to have them as our first customer. They have a clear vision driven by industry expertise, and they have been a fantastically supportive partner to work with over the years.”

The first phase of the rollout was focussed on the southwest region of Paraná state in Brazil’s southeast, while the second started in the metropolitan region of the capital, Curitiba.

The smart meter and smart grid programme was launched in 2021, following a 5,000 smart meter pilot introduced in 2018 in the southern state municipality of Ipiranga.

The programme is expected to see the introduction of around 4.5 million smart meters in total.

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In the first three phases, the entire southern region of the state will be supplied with smart meters, approximately 1.5 million by 2025, with a budget of the order of R$820 million (US$169 million).

Daniel Pimentel Slaviero, President of Copel, says the goal is to apply the technology to improve the efficiency of service to customers.

“Paraná has once again come out ahead, and today we have the most advanced smart grid programme in Brazil,” he asserts.

“It is the best in solutions for the power distribution system.”

Benefits provided by the smart meters include a reduction in the time to locate and fix breakdowns, remote meter reading and connections, the availability of meter data to customers via a smartphone app and digital billing, in addition to a reduction in carbon emissions due to improved efficiencies of field workers.

For example, the company estimates the avoidance of 75t of CO2 emissions in the first half of the year due to the latter.

The latest municipality in which the rollout is being introduced is Ponta Grossa, which is among the largest in the state and considered among the more challenging due to the geography of the city and the characteristics of the local power grid, according to Copel.

Approximately 800 units per day are expected to be installed there.

The installation was announced by Copel manager Sérgio Milani, who stated that the completion of the 500.000 meters is part of a wider rollout and estimated that more than 1.6 million smart meters will be available to Copel customers in the coming years.

The rollout is part of the utility’s smart grid project, announced in 2020 to deploy smart meters and other technologies to modernise and automate its networks.

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“This is the image of the state of Paraná, with the position of all the radios already installed for the SmartGrid project (Intelligent Electric Network),” stated Milani in a social media post.

“We already have approximately 10,000 radios that make up the backbone network and the AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) network, the challenge is to reach all of our customers’ meters with communication.

“We already have half a million consumers with meters installed in phases 01 and 02 of the project, in the coming years it is estimated that this communication will be available to more than 1.6 million consumers.”

Copel’s smart grid project aims to install the necessary infrastructure for connectivity across applications. This includes the implementation of network reconfiguration systems, which are self-healing, and the automation of reclosers or voltage regulators.

Copel (Companhia Paranaense de Energia) is one of the largest electricity companies in Brazil, serving over 5 million customers across Paraná state.

Electrobras intends with the initiative, which includes the migration of the group’s technology infrastructure to Google Cloud, to make intensive use of data and artificial intelligence solutions to meet key challenges in areas including transmission and generation asset management, energy trading and enterprise sustainability management.

“Google cloud technologies can be used in a variety of projects in the operational areas of companies, such as monitoring vegetation along transmission lines, in the search for better use of the incidence of light in solar energy projects, in the use of augmented reality in hydroelectric plants and transmission lines, among other functions,” comments Wilson Ferreira Junior, President of Eletrobras.

“The partnership will allow optimising the performance of the generation and transmission assets, besides being a key arm of the intensification of investments in clean sources, predicted by senior management in the post-capitalisation scenario.”

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As part of the agreement, Eletrobras will migrate much of its infrastructure and applications from its private cloud to the Google cloud, which should enable greater efficiency and scale.

In addition, the modernisation should enable a more holistic data analytics strategy with data from all of Eletrobras’s information sources, delivering better and more rapid insights for business decisionmaking.

Marco Bravo, head of Google Cloud Brazil, says that Google Cloud will work with Eletrobras to “bring greater efficiency to its operations and explore new use cases to solve its main challenges in the industry.”

For example, the initiative opens up opportunities for using artificial intelligence and machine learning to help the company achieve its efficiency and expansion goals. Among the possibilities are the development of indicators for risk reduction, maintenance optimisation, project innovations, management of current assets and planning for the implementation of new assets.

Eletrobras also intends to explore the use of these technologies to accelerate clean and sustainable energy projects, including delivering insights for the optimisation of the renewable energy generation, transmission and marketing chain.

The project by Brazilian energy distributor Energisa and its distributed generation subsidiary Alsol Energias Renováveis and the international technology company Ingeteam included the installation of 600 solar PV panels and a bank of batteries along with the respective inverters, as well as two biodiesel generators and a control system.

Previously the 750-inhabitant village relied on a diesel generator providing three to four hours of power per day.

During the day the PV system provides electricity to the village as well as charges the batteries, which are then available for supply during the nighttime hours. When it is cloudy and there is insufficient charge in the batteries, the system automatically switches to the biodiesel generators, to ensure an uninterrupted supply and that the batteries are recharged.

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Vila Restauração is located in the northwestern Brazilian state of Acre, close to the border with Peru. It is considered one of the most remote locations in the country, with the only access by boat taking up to 10 hours.

As such, the delivery of the solar and other equipment required careful logistical planning.

The electrification is expected to transform life in the village, opening up new business opportunities and for example improving the storage of items such as foodstuffs and medicines.

The project was undertaken as part of Energisa’s R&D activities, as required by the regulator Aneel. Its distribution subsidiary Energisa Acre is the local distributor.

The company is monitoring the system remotely to track its operation and also to receive early alerts of problems or possible maintenance requirements.

In addition to the electricity supply, Energisa entered a partnership with the mobile operator TIM to provide internet to the residents of Vila Restauração and the village was fitted with the first 4G antenna in the region.

The pilot included the use of mTHM to monitor the health status of 112 transmission and distribution transformers.

The utility is now expanding the use of the technology across an additional 88 transformers.

The project enables Energisa Group to analyse the risk of failure and identify areas of degradation where maintenance or repair can be applied to avoid service disruption or asset failure.

Monitoring the transformers and other grid assets in real-time will enable Energisa Group to optimise the performance of its assets and grid for improved efficiency, reliability and customer services to 8 million consumers that are served through the group’s nine distribution system operators.

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The project is expected to help reduce operational costs and enable the utility to achieve time savings.

The contract is part of the utility’s digital transformation journey which includes the deployment of advanced solutions that can help amplify the transition to renewables and enable Energisa to offer new, innovative and digital services, in addition to aligning operations with changing regulation and consumer demands for smart services.

Energisa Group says it will be investing $7.5 billion in grid modernisation across Brazil through 2024 in a bid to upgrade its infrastructure and improve access to affordable and reliable electricity to consumers living in energy poverty.

According to research firm Frost & Sullivan, global utilities will spend $33.42 billion by 2030 to digitise energy distribution and retail segments, spending that will see the deployment of advanced solutions in areas including customer services, optimal grid operations and connected and integrated businesses.

The initiative, which was launched by Enel Brazil in August, is piloting the use of 5G as a backhaul for real-time messaging and data access in a substation in the Vila Olimpia neighbourhood near the centre of the city.

Currently, Enel uses the 3G network to connect to its control centres, which is slower with a latency of a few seconds.

With 5G, the latency is in the range of one to five milliseconds.

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The Brazilian telco TIM is implementing the mobile network utilising spectrum in the 3.5GHz band granted provisionally by the telecommunications agency Anatel. Other partners are Qualcomm, which is providing 5G customer premises equipment, Ericsson with antennas and other equipment and Motorola with mobile edge devices.

“5G opens the way for more intense use of the concept of ‘self-healing’,” Fernando Andrade, who is responsible for engineering and construction at Enel Brazil, told the publication tele.sintese.

“We have started with the substation because it is a relatively controlled environment, but it is possible to spread the technology to the equipment throughout the network.”

A key use case of the technology in the substation is for rapid identification of failures or maintenance requirements. Another is to provide video conferencing, augmented reality or other data to field workers.

Enel Brazil has 120 substations in and around São Paulo to which the technology could be expanded, while another area is drone image collection and analysis.

The pilot is part of Enel’s Urban Futurability project, which is aimed to transform Vila Olímpia into a digital and sustainable neighbourhood with an investment of R$125 million (US$22 million) from the energy regulator Aneel’s R&D programme.

The Smart Luz consortium comprises Brazil‑based street lighting firms Salberg and Proteres Participações, IoT firm HTI, consulting company Arc and Green Luce. The consortium has won a BRL 1.4 billion ($256.5 million) tender to implement the Public Lighting public-private partnership project. 

The project will include the installation of 450,000 smart street lights, 5,000 Wi‑Fi hotspots, 4,000 waste sensors, 6,000 traffic lights, and 10,000 cameras to prepare the city for smart city services.

ST Engineering will provide the consortium with platforms that will enable some 300,000 smart street lights to be connected and some 25,000 devices and sensors to be managed via WI-FI hotspots.

The technologies will also enable waste management and traffic junction sensing for future smart city applications. ST Engineering will provide operation and maintenance services for the infrastructure for a period of ten years.

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The contract is one of the world’s largest single deployments of a city-wide, public, smart street light control project, according to ST Engineering.

The United States International Development Finance Corporation is funding the programme aimed at improving energy efficiency, services and security for Rio de Janeiro residents.

Ensuring the 18.5 million street lights in Brazil are smart and energy-efficient will help the country to align with goals set under the Paris Agreement of achieving a 10% energy efficiency gain in the electricity sector by 2030, according to the statement.

Yan Herreras Yambanis, the vice-president of finance at Smart Luz, said: “The Rio de Janeiro Public Lighting PPP project will be the largest integrated Smart City deployment in Latin America, and will have a transformational impact, as well as long-lasting and continuous benefits for the sustainable development of the city of Rio de Janeiro and its population.”

Whilst energy efficiency is critical to help Brazil address current energy shortages due to the drought, a lack of appetite by the government and energy stakeholders to maximise its use has crippled the market over the past years, according to the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI).

CPI states that the majority of energy efficiency rollouts in Brazil were implemented in response to specific episodes of difficulty in meeting the demand for energy and targeted residential consumers, yet sectors such as street lights and industrial consumers have the probability to reduce usage and enable the expansion of renewables portfolios.

CPI reiterates that there is a need for increased funding within the sector and the enactment of supporting policies if Brazil is to achieve its greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals.

Electrician 4.0 refers to professionals that are skilled to work with technological innovations including grid automation and IT solutions to digitalise and simplify energy sector processes, according to Enel Brazil.

Enel Distribución São Paulo has identified more than 50 assets and technology failures within the medium and high voltage network before disruptions to the operations of the grid. The milestone was achieved within 6 months from the date of technology adoption.

The augmented reality uses remote assistance and a smartphone to provide Enel’s employees with a map or clear view of events happening within the distribution network. The technology is able to detect anomalies and help electricians to identify the location and cause of the abnormality.

The technology helps reduce the number and occurrence of power outages, improves employee safety and optimise management and maintenance of grid assets, leading to improved power quality and increased assets lifespan, according to a statement.

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Enel Brazil says the 20 smartphones and 60 employees currently equipped with the technology are helping to avoid overheating across its distribution lines, transformers and circuit breakers.

Kleber Duarte Tomaz, field, industrialisation and innovation engineer at Enel Distribuição São Paulo, said: “During the pilot phase, we already had important results such as the identification of heat in the company’s lines. The thermographic camera was also used to verify the functioning of other assets such as smart meters, which have built-in communication technology, allowing remote reading of energy consumption data.”

The project is part of the utility’s digital transformation and use of advanced technologies to ensure to enhance the operations of the grid.

Smart grid solutions are vital to enhancing utility’s operations as energy companies are struggling with various challenges such as an increased amount of data from smart devices and capacity from distributed energy resources.

However, by utilizing digital tools, utilities are able to prepare for emerging business cases, enhance operations, accelerate the energy transition and address other issues such as electricity losses, customer churn and grid failures.

Enel expects to expand the functionality across its other three concession areas in Rio de Janeiro, Ceará and Goiás states by the end of 2022.

The award to the Brazilian Association of Electricity Distributors (Abradee) is intended to provide technical assistance to analyse regulatory scenarios to support and enable further smart grid deployments in Brazil.

Specifically, the focus will be on two main topics, viz public policies and economic regulation models that could further facilitate investments and encourage the modernisation of the electricity distribution networks across Brazil.

With the results that emerge, Abradee, together with Brazil’s electricity regulatory agency Aneel, the telecommunications regulatory agency Anatel and the national electricity system operator ONS intend to seek public policies that can lead to a full deployment of smart grids in the country.

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“USTDA’s grant will provide Brazilian electricity distributors an opportunity to collaborate with US industry and observe how the United States has developed smart grids and regulatory best practices,” commented Abradee President, Marcos Madureira.

“This will allow us to anticipate potential challenges and identify solutions that will work for Brazil.”

The project RFP document states that industry observers indicate two barriers to smart grid adoption within the current regulatory framework in Brazil. These are uncertainty about smart grid asset recognition and valuation and that assets are recognised and remunerated not on the date they enter into service, but rather on the effective date of the next tariff rebasing. Moreover, the assets are recognized at their net, depreciated level at the beginning of the rebasing period, not their original acquisition value.

Alternatives to these have been explored but without the availability of the incentives that have supported developments in other countries, Abradee wishes to explore the potential for public policies as a driver.

To date the two main motivations for smart grid development in Brazil have been combatting energy losses and improving the quality of supply, the RFP notes. Where these motivations are strongest, it is possible to identify a positive economic return for the projects. However, in most areas of Brazilian concessions, such projects have an unfavourable cost/benefit ratio

The USTDA has invited proposals from interested US firms, with a submission deadline of November 26. Once underway, the project is expected to take about six months to complete.

Abradee members represent 41 private and public electric distribution companies in Brazil, operating in all regions of the country, and serving 99.8% of Brazilian consumers.

Although the majority of South American countries including Brazil, Argentina and Chile are heavily reliant on fossil fuels for electricity, hydropower plays a key role in energy stability.

However, with the decline in water levels in dams with hydropower plants, Brazil is facing a huge challenge to meet growing energy demand.

For instance, Brazilian system operator ONS has indicated that the country is faced with a 5.5GW decline in hydropower generation for October and November if the current water levels in dams remain low.

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This means frequent power outages if the current status is not addressed or increases in reliance on fossil fuels, a development that would expand the carbon footprint of the country.

However, Gabriel Dufflis, a lead analyst with Wood Mackenzie, said an increase in natural gas and LNG imports being proposed by governments in the region could help stabilise electricity supply in line with demand.

Dufflis, added: “Can Argentina boost its natural gas production to secure extra thermal dispatch and also export gas to both Brazil and Chile, which will also need Argentine gas?”

Natural gas producers in Argentina have however increased production by 20% since April.

Henrique Anjos, Wood Mackenzie’s lead analyst, Latin America gas and LNG, added: “In the case of gas exports to Brazil, transmission pipeline bottlenecks can also jeopardise the capacity of Argentina to increase gas deliveries.”

“The total volumes will depend on how Argentina will deal with the lack of hydro generation. If the country wants to honour its firm agreement with Chilean players, it will export electricity generated based on fuel oil and diesel or provide gas price signals now to stimulate drilling activity during the summer.”

However, Bolivia can help the region meet its growing demand for natural gas by increasing production.

Anjos said: “With LNG spot prices above $12 per million British thermal units in the upcoming months and the tight balance in Brazil, Bolivia can negotiate better conditions with Brazilian players for short-term contracts, which might expect a large premium price.”

With two LNG gas terminals anticipated to come online in Brazil in the coming months, Anjos said: “The new terminals will support the increase of LNG imports to record levels, remaining at full effective capacity throughout the year.”

Enel Distribuição has installed 89,000 smart meters out of the 150,000 units that are planned for rollout by March 2022, according to bnamericas.

The pilot is divided into two phases with the first phase comprising 150,000 customers and the second phase another 150,000 units.

The initial plan was to complete the first phase by September this year. Despite the smart meters being manufactured locally in Sorocaba and Vargem Grande Paulista, disruptions from the pandemic have delayed the project.

The Enel manufacturing facilities are claimed to be the first smart meter production in Latin America.

The smart meters have been installed for consumers in Perus and Pirituba as part of the utility’s digital transformation, grid modernisation, and smart grid development journey.

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The pilot aims to test the effectiveness of the technology in helping consumers to improve their energy management whilst enabling Enel to accurately bill its consumers and optimise the management of the grid. The results of the pilot will pave way for the rollout of the technology across the utility’s customer base of 7.4 million consumers.

Aneel, Brazil’s energy regulator, has provided $23 million in funding for the pilot with Enel co-financing the rollout.

The smart meters have an in-built communication technology that enables them to automatically send data and receive instructions from the utility. Data sent by the smart meters include consumer energy usage and meter tampering alerts. This data can be used to match consumer energy demand with available energy for grid reliability and will curb energy theft, a move that helps Enel to reduce non-revenue electricity.

Data sent by Enel include automatic switch off in the event consumers have arrears. The smart meters will enable Enel to eliminate the manual meter reading process thereby reducing its carbon footprint and operational costs incurred from circulation around consumer neighborhoods with vehicles to read meters.

The metering technology will allow the utility to quickly detect and attend to power outages as well as introduce new digital services such as Time of Use tariffs and other demand response use cases.

The milestone increases the number of smart meters installed by Enel across its global operations to 45 million.

The utility has installed 100,000 IoT-enabled smart water meters through a partnership with multiple technology and project rollout companies.

Companies Laager and Vita Ambiental were responsible for the installation of the smart meters and related infrastructure following winning a bidding process initiated by Sabesp in 2018.

IoT communications technology firm Sigfox provided a network which is covering 92,000 of the 100,000 units in total installed by Sabesp. The IoT network was installed by Sigfox’s local partner WND to enable cost-effective, energy-efficient and wireless data telemetry by the smart meters. The devices will be in operation for at least five years without changing or recharging the battery.

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The project is one of the largest in Latin America, according to a statement and will introduce water consumption telemeasurement for Sabesp’s consumers.

Telemetering – the remote reading of meters – automates the process of measuring water consumption. The task was performed manually once a month and can now be performed multiple times a day. In addition to measurement, the system also generates alarms and important statistics about the operation of the entire water network. All of these new features bring reliability, transparency and savings to consumers and unprecedented operational efficiency for Sabesp.

Ricardo Batista, Sabesp’s Division Manager responsible for the project, said: “The project marked the large-scale adoption of the IoT concept by Sabesp. The new technology enables our customers to monitor water consumption daily, as well as leak detection, saving money and preserving the environment, in addition to better management of resources by our company. We hope to be able to expand the project in the coming years.”

The portable tester developed under the regulator Aneel’s research programme brings a new level of innovation to Brazil’s electricity sector.

Up to now, the distributor would need to interrupt the supply to conduct a quality and integrity verification. With the new tester, this need is eliminated and measurements can be conducted with the supply uninterrupted.

Meter accuracy verification is necessary whenever there is a request from the customer.

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“Due to the regulatory obligation, the distributor has to go to the residence to check the condition of the meter and with this innovation, the relationship with the customer is improved,” comments José Antonio Brito, Corporate Director of Neoenergia’s Research and Development.

The standard governing the metrology process requires that meter accuracy tests are performed at predefined current levels. Up to now, these tests could only be performed in the laboratory.

The new portable technology brings laboratory level metrological precision to the field and enables all the tests required by regulation to be carried out in situ along with the printing of a report for the customer.

In addition to testing on customer request, distributors can now undertake verification themselves as part of their annual inspection programmes focussed on combatting energy fraud, resulting in a more streamlined and efficient process.

The portable tester is operated via an integrated tablet.

Thirty testers are to be made available for use by its five distribution subsidiaries, Coelba, Celpe, Cosern, Elektro and CEB-D, which deliver electricity to 34 million in five states.

João Torres, who over the past 15 years has become well known internationally as the face of EDP distribution activities, takes on the role of strategic advisor for the implementation of EDP’s Global Distribution and Transmission Networks Platform, effective April 14.

In this new position he becomes a key figure in the delivery of EDP’s future networks globally. He also joins the board of directors of the distribution companies of EDP Brasil as a non-executive member.

In his role as CEO of the distributor, Torres led the investment made in the national electricity grid that allowed for significant improvement in the quality of service, with reduction of regional asymmetries and increased efficiency of operations.

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These have included the implementation of smart grids, particularly with the introduction of new smart metering equipment and strong momentum in the automation of the network.

He also has been at the forefront of the transition of Europe’s distribution networks as a member of E.DSO’s board of directors over the past decade, serving as chairman from 2013-17 and a vice-chair subsequently.

Ferrari Careto becomes the new president of E-REDES. With a degree in Economics from Nova Business School, he has been with EDP since 2003, serving most recently as Digital and IT Officer and head of the Digital Global Unit.

Previously Careto had been a director of several companies in the telecommunications sector and was a member of the Board of Directors of Portugal’s national communications regulatory authority ANACOM from 2006-12.

EDP’s Global Distribution and Transmission Networks Platform was introduced in the Group’s strategic business plan for 2021-2025 with responsibility for managing its networks.

The ambitious plan sets the path towards 100% renewables production and carbon neutrality by 2030 with €24 billion ($28.6 billion) investment by 2025, primarily in wind, solar, hydrogen and storage. The target is 4GW per year and more than 50GW by 2030.

The plan allocates approximately €3.4 billion ($4.05 billion) investment in the networks in enhancing resilience and quality of service with digitalisation and automation. Among goals are for EDP to grow its distribution asset base, particularly in Spain and Brazil.

Targets are 100% smart meter penetration in Iberia and 75% remote metering in Brazil by 2025.

The Base One plant will be sited in Ceara in Brazil and will be able to produce 600 million KG’s of green hydrogen per annum.

The electrolysis facility will be powered entirely by renewable energy, initially 3.4GW of solar and onshore wind.

Ceará’s potential for renewable energy generation, coupled with access to a strategic deep-sea port to facilitate the export of hydrogen, was key to the choice of the scoped 500-hectare site for the $5.4 billion investment.

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The project is expected to take between three and four years to build. To date, Enegix Energy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with consulting firm Black & Veatch to undertake feasibility studies central to the development of the project.

Gary Martin, a managing director with Black & Veatch’s Oil & Gas business, said: “Facilities such as the one proposed by Enegix are at the heart of making hydrogen a core component of a zero-carbon global economy.”

“Black & Veatch’s team has the capability to assess all aspects of the project, with transferable skills that cover hydrogen production, handling, transportation, storage and distribution; following the highest standards for safety and efficiency. Black & Veatch is well-positioned to provide these type of services, contributing to the transition of fossil fuels to hydrogen,” said Wesley Cooke, Enegix founder and CEO.

The parties have launched the Open Lab WEG/V2COM project to accelerate the development of Industry 4.0 solutions using the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) platform.

Nokia’s DAC will be used to validate the quality and economic value of solutions developed through the partnership.

Nokia’s DAC 5G standalone platform offers a high-bandwidth, low-latency private networking, local edge computing capabilities, voice and video services, as well as a catalog of applications, according to a statement.

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The solution Nokia is providing is a compact, easy-to-deploy platform, comprising network equipment, a cloud-based operation monitoring system and industrial connectors that ease standard and industry-specific protocol connectivity.

The collaborative one-year project will be conducted in a real-life production environment in WEG’s factory in Jaraguá do Sul, Santa Catarina. The results will be combined with other independent studies being carried out by Anatel, which is examining business use cases for 5G private wireless.

The plant will function as a laboratory where a private 5G network will be tested alongside a conventional mobile operator network. Several practical and advanced use cases for Industry 4.0 will be developed to verify the productivity gains that the solution can bring, enabling consolidation of consistent models for applications in industrial automation projects.

Looking towards post-pandemic technology and the best conditions for use of 5G, two radio frequencies will be evaluated: one below 6 GHz and the highest, between 27.5 GHz and 27.9 GHz. An independent research institute will analyze the performance of each.

Guilherme Spina, director at V2Com-WEG Group, said: “This 5G project will not only enable us to support the research about 5G deployments in Brazil but it will also accelerate the development of tests, products and solutions for our customers.”

Marcelo Entreconti, head of enterprise for Latin America, Nokia, adds: “This project with WEG is the latest example of Nokia’s use of 5G private wireless to implement Industry 4.0 in Brazil through our role as a leading supplier and technology partner. Through our technology, we are bringing increased productivity to a myriad of sectors in the critical post-pandemic landscape, and we are committed to meet various industry demands, including high-quality training of personnel, our project with OpenLab Senai, and use cases such as those being tested and applied by WEG.”

This is the first time a utility will be deploying an advanced metering project in the state of Amazonas.

Landis+Gyr will provide the utility with its SGP+M Mesh IP intelligent centralised metering solution to improve services to some 100,000 customers.

The advanced metering programme will rely on Landis+Gyr’s Gridstream Connect RF Mesh IP, as well as the Command Center system for the acquisition of metering data and aggregated services necessary for full operation and integration.

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The project will help Amazonas Energia to improve grid efficiency, reduce non-technical losses, avoid power outages, reduce carbon emissions, reduce consumer bills and modernise its grid.

William Fernandes, head of product management for South America at Landis+Gyr, said about the Gridstream Connect platform: “In addition to presenting advanced cybersecurity and interoperability requirements, the platform is already in operation in high data flow applications for tens of millions of utility sensors in Brazil and abroad. Amazonas Energia will have access to the most robust centralised metering solution for fraud detection, combined with future IoT demands.”

Landis+Gyr has 2.5 million centralised metering points in operation in Brazil and other Latin American countries.

The focus of the plan is on improving services, expanding the distribution network and expanding the number of customers served in the ten states.

BNDES is providing financing of R$1.49 billion (US$278 million), of which R$965 million is direct and R$522 million in indirect form.

The project is expected to run over two years with the generation of over 7,000 jobs.

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“In addition to providing clean and quality energy, mainly in remote regions of the country, Energisa has been consolidating itself as a complete energy company,” says Maurício Botelho, Energisa CFO.

“To this end, it plays a major role in the transition to a low carbon economy and a clean energy matrix, with a strong role in the sustainable development of the legal Amazon.”

The distributors receiving support are Ceron (state of Rondônia), Eletroacre (Acre), Energisa Mato Grosso (Mato Grosso), Energisa Mato Grosso do Sul (Mato Grosso do Sul), Energisa Minas Gerais (Minas Gerais), Energisa Paraíba (Paraíba), Energisa Sergipe (Sergipe), Energisa Sul-Sudeste (Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná) and Energisa Tocantins (Tocantins).

The investment plans of the distributors mainly involve the acquisition of equipment and construction work with a view to modernising infrastructure and improving operations.

All of the investments are considered essential for economic development in the areas in which companies operate, in order to contribute to meeting the growing demand for energy.

The projects also seek to improve quality and minimise the technical and commercial losses of the distributors.

Energisa is Brazil’s fifth largest energy distribution company, serving around 20 million people in 862 municipalities. The Group’s other distributors are Energisa Borborema (state of São Paulo) and Energisa Nova Friburgo (Rio de Janeiro).

Neoenergia is to adopt MPLS in the networks of its four distribution concessionaries, Celpe in Pernambuco state, Coelba in Bahia, Cosern in Rio Grande do Norte and Elektro in São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul.

The company considers innovation as key for improving the service quality for its 14 million customers and has selected the solution to ensure reliability and security with the increasing volume of data and to be prepared for the future growth that will come with smart grids.

“The digitalisation of the network and the operation itself motivates the expansion of our own communication network using this technology, which can transport all kinds of services with low latency and high speed,” says Heron Fontana, smart grids superintendent at Neoenergia.

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“The MPLS protocol is the most modern technology in data transport, and it will enable us to prepare our distributors for the management of the energy system under the distribution operator model. It also will allow the integration of distributed generation and electric vehicles.”

MPLS is a high availability, agile protocol with millisecond route switching, which makes it suitable for large data volumes. As such it is used in the networks of the largest telephone operators in Brazil.

Other important benefits for Neoenergia are its versatility and scalability. With MPLS, the infrastructure can be used for applications in operational technology, e.g. for electricity network and substation equipment, in addition to supporting corporate IT applications.

Neoenergia’s MPLS modernisation project is expected to take place over three years and is starting in the northeast. The first stage, which should be completed by the end of 2021, envisages the implementation of the technology at Celpe in the Agreste region of Pernambuco and at Cosern in the metropolitan area of Natal, the capital city of Rio Grande do Norte.

Coelba and Elektro will receive the technology in the next phases.

The first phase of the project will take place in the Pirituba and Perus neighbourhoods in the northwest of the city, with 150,000 devices to be connected in residences and small industrial and business premises by September 2021.

The project is being undertaken within the Brazilian electricity regulatory agency Aneel’s research and development programme with funding of R$121 million (US$22.1 million).

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The aim is to support the development of a new local supply chain in Brazil. The smart meters are being produced locally in São Paulo, in plants in Sorocaba and in Vargem Grande Paulista. This is Enel’s first smart meter production in Latin America and incorporates the company’s technology, which has been operating in the market for 20 years.

The solution implemented in Brazil will have its own design and has been developed to meet local needs and the local standards requirements.

“The innovative smart electricity metering solution installed by Enel Distribuição São Paulo will significantly contribute to the technological modernisation of the local distribution network,” said Antonio Cammisecra, Enel’s Head of Global Infrastructure and Networks.

“This ground-breaking digitalisation effort will empower customers, giving them active control of their energy consumption, as well as boosting network efficiency and resiliency, representing a fundamental step to address the challenges posed by the energy transition.”

The smart meters will allow remote reading of consumption data and enable customers to have easier access to their data. Customers will be able to monitor their interval daily consumption through the Enel São Paulo mobile app once the smart metering system and the new functions of the app are fully operational.

In addition, the app will include other functionalities such as the activation of consumption levels alerts and notice of changes in services tax rates.

New advanced energy services and products such as customisable tariff structures are envisaged in the future.

Customers will not be charged for the new meters and are promised a comprehensive information support campaign.

Enel Distribuição São Paulo is the second largest distributor in the country, accounting for 10.3% of all energy distributed in Brazil and serving 7.8 million consumer units in 24 municipalities in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, including the state’s capital city.

Enel counts installation of around 45 million smart meters globally in its operations in Latin America and Europe.

The hyperconvergence tool is intended to optimise and automate business processes bringing cost savings to the company and improvements in the security of supply to customers.

Neoenergia claims to be a pioneer of the technology in Brazil, which is installed at the distributors Celpe in Pernambuco state, Coelba in Bahia, Cosern in Rio Grande do Norte and Elektro in São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul.

“The company has seen an improvement of around 40% in the performance of some processes,” says Bruno Agra, Real Time Systems and Cybersecurity Supervisor at Neoenergia, speaking of the implementation.

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“With this, there is improved delivery of the services provided by the distributors through application, speed, security and resilience of the data that are used for the operation of the electricity system.”

Hyperconvergence is in essence an IT framework that combines storage, computing and networking into a single system in order to reduce the complexity of conventional legacy infrastructure and increase the scalability.

Hyperconvergence can lead to an up to 60% reduction in conventional data centre infrastructure, while providing the same levels of redundancy and scalability, Neoenergia points out in a statement.

“Hyperconvergence has come to unify. Today we have an aggregate of technology with the disk spacing, memory and processing. With this system, all the processes are in one place,” explains Marios Santos Neoenergia’s Infrastructure analyst and process coordinator.

Agra adds that databases and IT systems are the lifeblood of today’s modern companies and that with hyperconvergence, they will be better structured to work for customers.

“This hyperconvergence environment will be the support base for the systems used to operate Neoenergia’s electricity system.”

Paulo Ossamu, Accenture Technology Lead for Latin America, said: “Brazil is home to a variety of cybercriminal groups with specific tactics, which is a cyber threat that can be tackled with specialised Brazilian cyber defense and incident response specialists.”

To expand its cybersecurity presence and capabilities in Latin America, Accenture has acquired Real Protect, a privately held, Brazil-based provider of managed security and cyber defense services.

Kelly Bissell, who leads Accenture Security globally, adds: “The acquisition of Real Protect is a natural complement to our existing Managed Security Services business, which offers tailored industry-focused solutions to help clients rapidly anticipate, detect and respond in real-time to cyber threats. We welcome Real Protect to Accenture and are excited about what we can achieve together to help organizations be more resilient.”

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2005, Real Protect is headquartered in Rio de Janeiro and has an office in São Paulo.

Real Protect’s managed security services business provides custom and packaged solutions to clients across Brazil. ​The company’s portfolio also includes threat monitoring, detection and incident-response capabilities, which will complement Accenture’s managed detection and response offerings.

Real Protect has approximately 90 cybersecurity professionals, who serve a variety of clients in the healthcare, energy, oil & gas, and financial services industries.

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Real Protect’s workforce will join Accenture Security’s global workforce of nearly 7,000 professionals.

Real Protect CEO Daniel Lemos will lead Accenture’s Managed Security Services business in Latin America.

“We are excited to join Accenture​ and tap into their breadth of MSS capabilities, building on the success we have achieved in our business to date,” said Lemos. “Together, our shared commitment to providing market-leading cybersecurity solutions positions us well to drive growth in the adoption of these services in Brazil and across Latin America.”

Real Protect was the first in Latin America to receive the international unified certification standard by the MSP Alliance, the world’s largest industry association and certification body for cloud computing and managed services professionals.

Accenture became one of the leading global providers of managed security services as a result of its January 2020 acquisition of Symantec’s Cyber Security Services business, then further strengthened its cyber defense capabilities through its acquisitions of Context Information Security and Revolutionary Security in March and April 2020, respectively.

The corridor will connect the state capitals of Salvador in Bahia and Natal in Rio Grande do Norte, where Neoenergia has a presence through its distribution subsidiaries Coelba and Cosern.

Cities that will be connected include Aracaju, Maceió, Recife and Joao Pessoa, with the route passing through 70 municipalities in six northeastern states. This is expected to open up emobility to thousands of potential new EV drivers.

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The first phase of the project is taking place in Salvador and includes an evaluation of EVs on urban routes prior to opening the recharging stations to the public. Six all electric and hybrid vehicles are being tested to evaluate their performance in normal day to day use and to define any improvements.

The route will comprise a total of 18 recharging points. Of these, 12 will be of the supercharger type, offering 30-minute fast charging for several vehicles simultaneously and will be located in the six state capitals. The other six of the Wallbox type for a single vehicle at a time will be installed in urban areas and commercial centres.

“This is an important step for Neoenergia, as we will develop a business model for the viability and functionality of the green corridor,” says José Brito, corporate director of R&D at Neoenergia.

“We recognize the importance of guaranteeing sustainable development through measures aimed at combating climate change and investment in emobility forms part of that commitment.”

He adds that the company is studying the use of solar energy to power the charging stations.

The ‘green corridor’ project falls under regulator Aneel’s R&D programme and forms part of Neoenergia’s emobility drive to stimulate the use of EVs and decarbonise the economy.

Neoenergia as part of the initiative also is developing an app to support drivers with data on their vehicle and tariffs and payments among other information.

For its part Neoenergia has started to switch its own vehicle fleet to EVs and is installing chargers at all its regional and administrative offices. The company has invested in an electric truck for use in distribution network maintenance services.

The initiative is due to be completed by mid-2021 when it will become the longest emobility corridor in Brazil.

The deployments will focus on ‘core cities’ where the partnership is already most active in the four countries, São Paulo, Santiago, Medellín and Mexico City.

These should then catalyse acceleration in other cities where deployments are planned or are starting including Bogotá in Colombia, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador in Brazil, Guadalajara in Mexico and Quito in Ecuador.

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ZEBRA is an initiative of the P4G network with the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and International Council on Clean Transportation as co-leaders and additional support from the Centro Mario Molina Chile environment consultancy and World Resources Institute.

With a coalition of new investors and bus manufacturers, ZEBRA intends to ensure political commitment for zero emission public transport in the four cities and commitments from the manufacturers and other industry providers to make the technologies available no later than 2021.

ZEBRA also is working to secure $1 billion for the deployment of the 3,000 buses during 2021 and beyond and plans to share best practices among these and other cities in the region.

“There are cities that are already determined to make their public transport fleets zero emissions,” says C40 spokesman Thomas Maltese.

“The commitments will help meet the demands of the authorities and transit operators, thus managing to overcome two of the main barriers to the deployment of zero emission buses: the limited supply for the choice of vehicles and the lack of investment.”

ebuses in Latin America

Latin America has shown a strong appetite for electric buses with more than 1,900 on the roads currently. However, these vehicles amount to less than 1% of the region’s total bus fleet.

The largest number, over 550, are found in Santiago, which also is the largest zero emission bus fleet in the world outside China.

In Medellín and Bogotá the electric bus fleets are being rapidly expanded. In São Paulo all new buses from 2028 must be zero emission and other cities in Brazil including Curitiba and Salvador intend that all new buses should be zero emission.

The driver is emissions and for example in Santiago, as much as 79% of the emissions are attributed to transportation with the main cause the outdated diesel bus technology used for public transport.

Innovative business models and financial mechanisms are expected to support the large scale deployment of electric buses. Examples being applied include separation of ownership and operation of buses in Santiago, concessional financing in Medellín or separation of ownership of the bus chassis and battery in São Paulo.

An additional incentive is seen in reduced operation and maintenance costs of electric buses. In Santiago, the private operator Metbus found that the operating and maintenance costs of its fleet of more than 400 e-buses are 70% and 37% cheaper than a diesel bus respectively.

CEB Distribuição is the electricity distributor for the Federal District of Brazils’s capital, Brasilia, and supplies electricity to a population of 3 million. In 2019, the company had 1.1 million consumers and supplied a total of 6,577GWh.

Neoenergia, through its subsidiary Bahia Geração de Energia, was the winner of the auction for the privatisation of CEB Distribuição with an offer amounting to R$2.515 trillion ($491 million) for 100% of the company.

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The concession that CEB Distribuição owns runs until 2045, guaranteeing 25 years of regulated activity with stable and predictable incomes.

The acquisition of CEB Distribuição represents yet another step in Neoenergia’s expansion plan in the Brazilian energy sector and is in line with Iberdrola’s investment focus, centering on regulated businesses and renewable energy with big growth potential in countries that offer legal and regulatory stability, according to a statement.

The acquisition brings Neoenergia’s service area up to 840,800km2 and servicing 15.3 million customers – approximately 30% of the market.

Iberdrola’s presence in Brazil dates back over 20 years with the first investments in distribution in Coelba in Bahia state and Cosern in Rio Grande do Norte. Subsequent acquisitions have included Celpe in Pernambuco and Elektro in São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul.

In addition to distribution, Neoenergia also provides generation including over 3,500MW of renewables and transmission.

Neoenergia’s most recent acquisition in Brazil was for a pipeline of 400MW of wind generation from the renewable developer PEC Energia in Serra da Gameleira in Bahia state. The acquisition with a value of up to R$80 million ($15.7 million) includes the option for other wind projects of PEC Energia in the Serra da Gameleira region.

Neoenergia is piloting four augmented reality headsets – one in each of its distribution concessionaries, Coelba in Bahia state, Celpe in Pernambuco, Cosern in Rio Grande do Norte and Elektro in São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul.

The devices are equipped with a 16MP camera and 0.33-inch liquid crystal display to simulate a 7-inch display to the eye – larger than most smartphones. They use Android 8 as the operating system with a hands-free interface, enabling operation by voice command to facilitate working.

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For example, applications can be downloaded for meetings and training sessions and functions such as taking photographs or zooming in and out of documents can be undertaken by voice.

The implementation of augmented reality at distribution level follows an earlier pilot launched in April in which the technology was tested for use in substations on the transmission system.

“The tool goes far beyond what was initially forecast, which was to provide faster and more assertive support from our specialists to our field teams,” says Carlos Eduardo Begosso, Neoenergia’s superintendent of transmission operations and maintenance.

“By using the tool, we are able to undertake maintenance tours, supervise the execution of services, monitor equipment manoeuvres, perform safety inspections and provide training and we are also studying other applications.”

One of the company’s main goals was to improve the connection of teams in the field with specialists based in the head offices of the distributors to provide more agility to processes and reduce costs.

With the use of augmented reality devices, the specialists are able to guide technicians in the field, regardless of where they are and limit any unnecessary travel.

The two features that are found to be most used are remote mentoring and the view of documents in PDF format.

The augmented reality devices are equipped with three sensors, including a gyroscope, so that the image follows the movements of the user’s head. The battery lasts up to ten hours and can be changed without disconnecting the device.

The multinational EDP, through its EDP Smart division, has committed to a financial contribution for the acquisition of energy storage and battery charging technologies for Embraer’s all-electric demonstrator aircraft project.

The prototype, which is already in development, is scheduled to complete its inaugural flight in 2021.

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The investment is part of the cooperation agreement signed by both companies to advance their shared knowledge of energy storage and battery charging technologies for aviation – one of the main challenges of the project.

The partnership aims to investigate the applicability of high voltage batteries for the electric propulsion systems of small aircraft, in addition to evaluating the main operating characteristics, such as weight, efficiency and power quality, thermal control and management, cycling loading and unloading and operational safety.

“Our partnership with Embraer in the development of the company’s first 100% electric demonstrator aircraft represents a new frontier for our investment in electric mobility, which helps to position Brazil as a leading player in this market,” says Miguel Setas, president of EDP in Brazil.

This proposal for the technological development of aeronautical electrification was initially created as a cooperation between Embraer and WEG in May 2019.

The scope of the partnership with EDP is to develop shared research in the storage of high voltage energy as a complement to Embraer’s ongoing research.

The aircraft being used as the test bed for primary assessment of the electrification technologies is the EMB-203 Ipanema, a small single-engine aircraft utilised for aerial agricultural applications such as crop dusting. Ground tests have taken place at Embraer’s facilities in Botucatu, in the interior of São Paulo, in preparation for the first flight, which will take place at Embraer’s Gavião Peixoto unit.

Electric aviation

Electric aviation was identified as one of the top 10 technologies for 2020 by the World Economic Forum. About 170 electric plane projects are under way currently for private, corporate and commuter travel, according to the WEF.

Small, light duty application planes such as Embraer’s should be relatively straightforward to electrify and the bigger challenge will be larger long distance planes due to the (current) size and weight of batteries.

The WEF anticipates that a distance of up to 800km comprising approximately half of flights globally should be within the range of battery-powered electric aircraft by 2025. Airbus plans to have 100 passenger versions ready to fly by 2030.

The community of Xique-Xique in the municipality of Remanso in northeast Brazil will be the recipient of Neoenergia’s first microgrid as part of a pilot to bring electricity to rural areas not yet served.

The microgrid will comprise solar PV with a capacity to generate 240kW DC/180kW AC, sufficient to serve 103 residential units with an average 80kWh, and storage batteries that can guarantee supply for 48 hours to cover periods of low solar generation.

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The project currently in the planning phase is expected to start operating in the first half of 2021 and to benefit approximately 400 people.

“At the moment, Neoenergia offers two solutions to serve isolated customers: we extend the conventional network or implement individualised solar systems,” says Débora Catão, Smart Grids engineer at Neoenergia.

“Microgrids, with centralised generation and storage, can be a solution to improve the efficiency and quality of supply.”

The project draws on resources from the regulator Aneel’s research and development programme as well as the national government’s Luz para Todos (Light for All) universal access to electricity initiative.

Microgrids have been little explored in Brazil and the project should provide insights both on the technology and on rural electrification.

The project also will evaluate the application of supercapacitors as a storage solution, which so far has not been tested in the field. In addition, the degradation of solar PV in the environment will be analysed.

The design of the microgrid is based on a consumption study conducted in the community. Another key focus of the project is to investigate the social and economic development impacts with the expectation that with positive community response, a decline in technology costs could go hand in hand with increasing market penetration.

Participating in the research is LabSolar, the first solar system certification laboratory in Brazil’s northeast region, which was inaugurated by Neoenergia in partnership with the Physics Institute of the Federal University of Bahia and the Bahia state government.

IFC is providing the total $100 million financing to Santander Brazil as part of its programme to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Half of the financing will be devoted to the commercialisation of photovoltaic panels. The remainder is aimed to boost access to credit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), of which at least 20% will be directed to SMEs owned by women.

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“Financing green credit lines at this moment is essential to support the transition to a cleaner economy, with focus on small businesses and entrepreneurs,” says Franco Fasoli, director of Companies, Governments & Institutions at Santander Brasil.

“This new partnership with IFC allows us to expand our operations on these important fronts of action.”

Santander Brasil is a pioneer in financing solar power generation projects, from large solar plants to the sale of photovoltaic panels to small farmers. The Bank has provided financing for 285 wind farms, which account for 30% of the installed capacity of wind energy in Brazil.

Santander Brasil also claims to be one of the leaders in providing financing to SMEs in Brazil.

Prior to this financing, IFC’s most recent support for Brazil’s energy sector was a $288 million, 15-year loan to UTE GNA I Geração de Energia for the development, construction and operation of an integrated liquefied natural gas to power facility in Porto de Açu in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

The project, expected to start commercial operation in 2021, includes an integrated 1.3GW combined cycle gas turbine based-fired power plant, which will be linked to the national grid. The initiative is aimed to support the diversification of Brazil’s energy matrix and improve the resilience and reliability of the electrical system.

GNA I also is envisaged as a stepping stone to the first fully-integrated private natural gas hub in Brazil and one of only a few in Latin America.