By Bianca Oliveira
In a year in which few industries celebrate good performance, the solar energy sector is experiencing a 70% growth in Brazil. Expectations for the coming years are also positive and already attracts bets from large global electrics.
In addition to the country’s privileged geolocation favoring the production of energy from solar sources, the drop of almost 90% in equipment costs in the last 10 years, combined with the explosion of electricity tariffs, made the renewable option more economically attractive.
The growing sustainable mentality on the part of the population also contributed to this result.
Currently, the country has an installed capacity of 7.5GW, which represents almost half of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, the world’s leader in the production of clean and renewable energy. For 2021, the projections of the Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy (ABSOLAR) are an increase of 4.9 GW, that is, 68% of the registered today.
In its annual report, Climatescope 2020, Bloomberg NEF indicates a transformation of the Brazilian electric sector in which the solar source could represent 50% of the total grid. Until last year, that number was 1.6%, while hydroelectric plants are responsible for about 60%.
Another highlight of the study is the sector’s potential for investment attractiveness. Brazil is in 3rd place among developing countries, just behind Chile and India, and has one of the most comprehensive and inviting clean energy policies among emerging markets. Today, 70 credit lines, public and private, are offered in the country for those who want to invest in this kind of energy.
One of the companies that are betting on the sector is Enel Green Power Brasil, which announced at the end of 2020 the construction of 5 new projects for the production of renewable energy, one of which is solar, which should start operating later this year. Canadian Brookfield will debut its plant on Brazilian soil in 2023. Companies such as Chinese CGN, Norwegian Statkraft and VRTM have already signaled projects involving photovoltaic plants in Brazil.