“The future is batteries. I have no doubts anymore. Abroad, we already operate almost 100% on batteries and, occasionally, sell solar energy”, this is the analysis of Eduardo Nicol, CEO of RENEW Energia and CFO of SUN-I Solar Energy USA.
During episode #125 of the fourth season of the Papo Solar podcast, broadcast on Tuesday (08), Nicol was present to analyze trends, compare the Brazilian and American markets and highlight the opportunities that arise with the advancement of hybrid solutions.
In countries like the United States, energy storage is the focus of integrators and consumers, a reality that can be explored in Brazil.
Brazil x USA in the market
According to the expert, the main focus in the American market is retrofitting and upselling, that is, implementing improvements in consumer units that already have solar energy. “The main focus is the implementation of batteries. I would say that our focus in the US today is not selling solar, but selling energy solutions,” he explained.
Hybrid solutions with batteries
According to him, the main thing is for the integrator to understand what a hybrid system is, because the overwhelming majority still don't understand and think that hybrid is just backup. "It serves much more purposes, backup is just the icing on the cake."
The professional explains that it is possible to use batteries to store energy during off-peak hours and use it during times of the day when the tariff is higher. From this, operational costs, tax charges provided for in law 14.300 and impacts of flow inversion can be reduced.
“We are talking about energy that sometimes costs two or three times more than off-peak hours. So, this application of tariff arbitration is an application that many people are still unaware of in hybrid energy,” he reported.
“In São Paulo, if an ice cream shop goes without power for a week, it costs thousands of reais. You lose ice cream because you don’t have a battery installed in your business,” explained Nicol.
“A storage solution may be expensive for you or me, but is it expensive for someone who has a $20 million home? It’s not. You have to analyze your customer’s pain and capacity. Don’t analyze the sale you’re going to make based on your pocketbook,” he added.
For Laís Andrade, engineer at CS Consulting, who also participated in Papo Solar, the biggest fear of integrators is starting. “If you don’t feel confident, you took the course Canal Solar and you still haven’t managed to unlock it, hire a consultant, because when you see it the first time, the second time you can already do it yourself”, she added.
Maturity of the Brazilian scenario
Eduardo Nicol reinforces that there are several ways to make money with batteries that have not yet arrived in Brazil, such as ancillary quality, voltage and frequency services.
But on the other hand, shared energy generation in the United States is still in its infancy. “Only now are communities beginning to emerge where you can, in an integrated manner with the distributor, distribute energy credits. So, I would say that, in this respect, Brazil has a business model well ahead of them,” he highlighted.
Despite this, the professional stressed the need for training to work in the Brazilian market, a point that still needs attention, since certifications are not required to work.
“In the United States, if you work without a license, you are arrested. There, companies are required to have a range of mandatory insurance policies, so it is a different market with a different level of demand,” he added.
Artificial intelligence
For Nicol, AI (artificial intelligence) has multiple applications in the solar energy sector. “In sales, for example, there are repetitive sales processes with a database. Today, this can be completely replaced by AI,” he said.
“In addition, AI can interconnect with the monitoring system, absorb the database and make comparisons to infer that a specific piece of equipment or compound is degrading. There is no way to see this with the naked eye. It is not artificial intelligence that will steal your job, it is not knowing how to use it that will,” he concluded.
Watch the full episode
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An answer
Today I have a small system that powers my apartment and I don't have to worry about power outages, and I've been on the white tariff for a few months now, and I already have my 20% discount. That's thinking outside the box.