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Improvements in modelling energy systems of populous emerging economies are highly decisive for a successful global energy transition. The models used–increasingly open source–still need more appropriate open data. As an illustrative example, we take the Brazilian energy system, which has great potential for renewable energy resources but still relies heavily on fossil fuels. We provide a comprehensive open dataset for scenario analyses, which can be directly used with the popular open energy system model PyPSA and other modelling frameworks. It includes three categories: (1) time series data of variable renewable potentials, electricity load profiles, inflows for the hydropower plants, and cross-border electricity exchanges; (2) geospatial data on the administrative division of the Brazilian federal states; (3) tabular data, which contains power plant data with installed and planned generation capacities, aggregated grid network topology, biomass thermal plant potential, as well as scenarios of energy demand. Our dataset could enable further global or country-specific energy system studies based on open data relevant to decarbonizing Brazil's energy system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With its abundance of renewable energy potentials, not only for hydropower and bioenergy, but also for wind and solar, Brazil provides good prospects for a carbon neutral energy system. The role of an enhanced coupling of the power, heat and transport sectors in such systems is not yet fully understood. This paper analyses the least-cost composition and operation of a fully renewable power supply system as part of a carbon neutral energy supply in Brazil. It relies on the application of the high-resolution energy system model REMix. Our analysis reveals that the expansion of wind and solar power is more cost-efficient than the construction of additional hydroelectric plants. This is favoured because the existing hydroelectric plants offer large capacity of dispatchable power to compensate for fluctuations, and thus no additional storage is necessary. Furthermore, the REMix analysis indicates that varying shares of solar and wind power technologies as well as the spatial distribution of power generation have only a small influence on supply costs. This implies that the transformation strategy in Brazil can be primarily based on other criteria such as regional development, public acceptance, environmental impact or industrial policy without major impacts on system costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the analysis made by an article recently published in this journal [1]. The purpose of this manuscript is to bring new contributions to this complex subject, namely the limits to the penetration of variable renewable energy (VRE) into national grids. A detailed and advanced model has been used in this work in order to add further contributions to De Jong et al. [1] findings. For example, by applying an optimization model, we were able to show that the high wind penetration (65%) almost without curtailment found by [1] might not happen, mainly due to inflexibility constraints in Brazilian power plants and also to transmission limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ecuador's expansion plans for the power sector promote the exploitation of hydro power potential, natural gas and a small share of alternative renewable energies. In 2019, electricity generation reached 76.3% from hydroelectric power, 21.9% from thermal plants and 1.8% from other renewable resources. Although the power energy mix is mainly based on renewable technologies, the total energy demand is still dependent on fossil fuels, which is the case of the transport sector that alone accounted for 50% of the total primary energy consumed in the country. This paper analyzes the pathway to develop a clean and diversified electricity mix, covering the demand of three specific development levels of electric transportation. The linear optimization model (urbs) and the Ecuador Land Use and Energy Netwrok Analysis (ELENA) are used to optimize the expansion of the power system in the period from 2020 to 2050. Results show that reaching an electricity mix 100% based on renewable energies is possible and still cover a highly electrified transport that includes 47.8% of land passenger, and 5.9% of land freight transport. Therefore, the electrification of this sector is a viable alternative for the country to rely on its own energy resources, while reinforcing its future climate change mitigation commitments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]