Factorenergia targets Brazil’s commercial market with AI, battery storage

Spanish energy retailer Factorenergia has launched operations in Brazil with plans to target small and medium-sized businesses as the country’s electricity market gradually opens to more consumers.

The company, which entered Brazil through a partnership with Path Investimentos, said it intends to replicate its European business model by combining energy retail with distributed generation, energy management, energy efficiency and battery energy storage systems.

In an interview with pv magazine Brasil, Chief Operating Officer Gabriel Barreto said battery storage will play a central role in helping commercial and industrial customers reduce electricity costs while improving supply reliability.

Barreto said the company is developing pilot battery storage projects in the states of Bahia and Pará to validate a business model that combines long-term electricity supply contracts with battery systems. According to the company, customers with monthly electricity bills between BRL 15,000 ($2,945) and BRL 20,000 could reduce energy costs by between 17% and 25%.

He added that artificial intelligence is another key differentiator, with about 74% of customer service already handled by AI platforms developed by the company’s engineering team in Spain.

Factorenergia expects to focus initially on commercial and industrial customers before expanding into the residential market as Brazil prepares to open its retail electricity market to low-voltage consumers from November 2027.

The Brazilian operation follows SmartestEnergy’s acquisition of an 85% stake in Factorenergia. SmartestEnergy is part of Japan’s Marubeni Corp.

From pv magazine Brazil