Electrical expansion in South America: centralized or distributed generation for Brazil and Colombia

Abstract

Questions on whether the power system of the future will be centralized or distributed occupy institutions and agents of the South American electricity industry as well as their peers in other regions of the world. A fundamental discussion concerns whether generation expansion will be dominated by large-scale power plants developed by traditional agents acting in the wholesale market or by small-scale projects developed as a result of decisions from myriad energy consumers and implemented behind their electricity meters.