IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ENERGY TRANSITION IN THE ELECTRICITY SECTOR FROM STATE OF SÃO PAULO AND BRAZIL ACCORDING TO CAUSALITY RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ELECTRIC ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND GDP IN THE PERIOD 2004 – 2019
The energy transition is influenced by the socioeconomic condition of regions and types of new technologies considered in its implementation and such differences may affect economic growth. In Brazil, the Northeast region experiences the growth of centralized wind and photovoltaic power generation with plants of installed capacities ranging from tens to hundreds of MW. In the Southeast and South regions the growing presence of distributed energy sources based on photovoltaic and biomass is introducing plants with installed capacity of tens of kW to few MW either for isolated self-production in industrial and commercial facilities or connected to micro-grids. Thus energy transition also involves new forms of electric energy distribution. This work presents a parallel between Brazil and the state of São Paulo regarding the energy transition of the Brazilian electricity sector. The analyses are based on time series and Granger's causality relationship between gross domestic product (GDP) and total electricity consumption in the period from 2004 to 2019. The results demonstrate the existence of a long and short-term relationship between variables of electricity consumption, gross domestic product, average electricity tariff and number of consumers. For Brazil, the causality relationship went from GDP to electricity consumption which suggests that policies of energy conservation tend to do not impact the economic growth. For the state of São Paulo, the causality relationship in the short range went from electricity consumption toward GDP which suggest that policies associated with increased energy consumption can have positive effects for economic growth. In the long run, the causality direction for the state of São Paulo was similar to that of Brazil. These results indicate that it is possible to construct a consistent econometric model for electricity consumption prediction based on GDP, The results indicate the existence of a different causality relationships between GDP and electricity consumption between Brazil as a whole and a specific region, the state of São Paulo, which is experiencing an increasing presence of decentralized generation. Stop importing electricity and start generating it in the state itself with distributed and sustainable systems can be an inducer of economic growth via investments, services and other externalities. This type of energy transition requires preservation and optimization of energy resources based on technological innovations on energy production processes and final use, and on regulations. A regional energy planning, taking into account the specific characteristics of Brazilian states, may contribute to increase the country's economic growth.