Federal deputy Arnaldo Jardim (Cidadania/SP) filed on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, bill 3716/2026, which revisits who pays for the procurement of energy storage systems in Brazil. Under the current rule, this cost falls solely on generators. The proposal seeks to distribute it among end users as well, as already happens with other forms of capacity procurement. The text arrives just a few months before the battery auctions scheduled for December and has the support of five power sector associations.
What the bill proposes
The core of the bill is cost sharing. In the justification, the author argues that the current legislation is unconstitutional in assigning exclusively to generators the payment for contracted batteries. The argument is that the law itself already establishes that capacity procurement costs must be shared between generators and end consumers, meaning storage would be receiving different treatment from other solutions.
To understand the debate, it is worth recalling what is at stake. Capacity reserve procurement is the mechanism through which the power system ensures resources are available to meet demand at times of greatest need. Battery energy storage systems, known as BESS, can provide this service by storing energy and returning it to the grid when called upon. The question raised by the bill is not whether batteries should be contracted, but how the cost of that procurement is divided among market participants.
Who supports it and why
The initiative is backed by entities linked to storage and renewable generation:
- Absae – Brazilian Association of Energy Storage Solutions;
- Absolar – Brazilian Photovoltaic Solar Energy Association;
- Apine – Brazilian Association of Independent Power Producers;
- Abeeólica – Brazilian Association of Wind Energy and New Technologies;
- Abiape – Brazilian Association of Investors in Energy Self-Production.
In a joint statement, the associations say the current model creates asymmetries and defend the principle of equal treatment: solutions that deliver equivalent services to users should follow the same legal regime, so their costs can be allocated and compared in a balanced way. In the entities' view, the funding rules for capacity reserve must be identical for any technology that ends up being contracted.
Legal uncertainty and impact on energy prices
Another argument from the associations is that the current rule creates legal uncertainty for the battery auctions scheduled for December. A rule whose constitutionality is being questioned tends to increase the perceived risk for those planning to bid, which may affect prices and investor appetite.
The entities also warn about the impact on consumers. According to them, keeping the legislation as it stands may make energy more expensive, since charges imposed on generators are usually passed on to the final price. In other words, a cost concentrated on a single group of agents would end up reaching users by another route, without the transparency of explicit cost sharing.
What changes in practice for the BESS market
The bill still has to move through Congress, and timing is the decisive factor. If approved before the December auction, the trend is toward a more predictable environment for those planning to compete for storage contracts. For each link in the chain, the expected effects are:
- Developers: funding rules aligned with those of other capacity solutions make financial modeling and bid pricing easier, reducing the risk premium associated with legal disputes.
- EPCs: greater certainty about the auction outcome helps in planning teams, schedules and project pipelines for the post-auction period.
- Manufacturers and suppliers: an auction with lower regulatory risk tends to attract more participants, which may translate into firmer demand for batteries, inverters and control systems.
Until the bill advances, the recommendation is to closely monitor the progress of PL 3716/2026 and to consider, in feasibility analyses, both the scenario in which the current rule is maintained and the one in which the cost-sharing change is approved.
Original source: ABSOLAR — Arnaldo Jardim apresenta PL para mudar divisão do custo de contratação de baterias, com apoio de associações