# Brazil ONS Authorizes Commercial Energization of Xingawa 500 kV Digital Substation and 300 MWh BESS in Bahia

> Brazil’s National Electric System Operator (ONS) has issued commercial operating authorization for the new Xingawa 500/230 kV digital substation and collocated 150 MW / 300 MWh battery storage system in Bahia, eliminating severe transmission line thermal bottlenecks across the Northeast-to-Southeast Interconnection.

- **Publish Date:** 2026-09-28
- **Category:** energy-storage
- **Reading Time:** 5 min
- **Original Source Citation:** [Operador Nacional do Sistema Elétrico (ONS Brazil) & Eletrobras](https://www.ons.org.br/noticias/operacao-comercial-subestacao-500kv-xingawa-bess-bahia-2026)
- **Tags:** ONS Brazil, Eletrobras, 500 kV Substation, BESS, Bahia, Digital Substation, Renewable Evacuation, South America Grid
- **Canonical URL:** https://voltformer.com/news/brazil-ons-authorizes-commercial-operation-xingawa-500kv-substation-bess
- **Markdown Source:** https://voltformer.com/news/brazil-ons-authorizes-commercial-operation-xingawa-500kv-substation-bess.md

## Unblocking Renewable Export from the Brazilian Northeast

The northeast region of Brazil has experienced record wind and solar expansion, creating multi-gigawatt export flows toward Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo that frequently saturated existing 500 kV transmission lines.

Authorizing commercial energization on September 28, 2026, ONS integrated the Xingawa substation hub, featuring three 500/230 kV 400 MVA autotransformers and modern optical current transformers (OCT) linked via fully compliant IEC 61850 Process Bus architecture.

## Collocated 150 MW / 300 MWh Grid-Support Battery System

Directly tied into the 230 kV tertiary yard, the 150 MW / 300 MWh BESS provides rapid frequency restoration and automated transmission congestion relief. In the event of a contingency trip on parallel 500 kV circuits, the battery discharges at full power within 15 milliseconds, preventing inter-area oscillations.

This fast response increases dynamic transfer limits along the Bahia-Minas Gerais corridor by 450 MW without building duplicate overhead lines.

## Digital Substation Architecture and Cyber-Hardened Protection

Xingawa represents one of South America’s largest operational digital substations, replacing copper control cabling with fiber-optic networks and deploying digital protection relays with automated self-healing logic.

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