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Renewables
Rafael Herzberg
Rafael Herzberg
Expert Member
Top Contributor
 · Posted in Renewables

ESG Opportunity (Brazil)

ESG Opportunity (Brazil)

Brazil has an exceptional opportunity to be seized: replacing instantaneous electric showers with accumulation (tank) ones.

The justification is very simple. The country has a "park" of tens of millions of showers, which aggregated represent an installed power of hundreds of GW. The demand arising at the national integrated system (ISO) is in the order of a few dozen GW.

Where is the "catch"?

The proposal allows freeing up an important capacity for the ISO (Independent System Operator), which is equivalent to serving more load WITHOUT the need to increase the installed power of the electricity sector's value chain.

How so?

In my house, for example, we have a 2 kW electric 100 liters storage tank, which is turned on for 1 hour a day and provides hot water for my wife and I. If we had an instant shower, we would use the same energy, but with a demand of 6 kW (for 20 minutes).

And what's the difference?

To meet 6 kW of demand, the electricity sector's production chain needs to invest triple the amount of 2 kW, although the energy consumption is the same!

The opportunity

Replace electric showers with electric or solar storage tanks. Each kW less demanded by the ISO controlled grid releases an associated investment (generation, transmission, and distribution).

A 6 KW shower, when replaced by an electric accumulation tank, requires an investment of a fraction (equipment and its installation) of the required by the expansion of the power supply chain..

And an extra "gift"

Scheduling the heater to be turned on off-peak, when the ISO has a lower national demand, generates an additional benefit.

New business, more jobs and income.  Based on technical-economic-environmental merit!