Cuiabá is the first municipality in Brazil to reach the mark of 100 MW of solar power installed in homes, facades and on small and medium-sized plots of land, according to data collected by the Canal Solar next to ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency).
With just over 615 thousand inhabitants, the capital of the state of Mato Grosso already accumulates more than 9,45 thousand UCs (Consumer Units) receiving credits and just over 9 thousand photovoltaic plants in operation.
Among the consumption classes, residential systems are the most prevalent, with more than two thirds of the plants (7,62 thousand) and more than half of all installed power in the municipality (55 MW). Next, the systems in commerce (24,5 MW) and industries (15,8 MW) appear, respectively.
According to a Thiago Trindade, Electrical Operations supervisor at the company Megliosole Energia Renovável, Cuiabá is a city where energy consumption is high, due to the high temperatures in almost every month of the year. “This makes the need to have a solar energy system at home very attractive, due to the economic benefits,” he said.
“Today, a typical family home with 4 people easily consumes 700 to 800 kWh/month. An air-conditioned company, in order to provide a minimum of comfort for its customers, consumes 3 to 4 kWh/month, if it is not a very large space,” he explained.
Already for Tiago Vianna de Arruda, state coordinator of Mato Grosso for ABSOLAR (Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy), adherence to solar energy also has a direct relationship with regional agribusiness.
“The fact that the concession encomes the entire Mato Grosso, many agricultural companies have concentrated their generators in Cuiabá, using energy through remote self-consumption and also aiming for concentrated operation and maintenance. This all generates a lower cost and consequently brings even more financial attractiveness to investments (in solar)”, he highlighted.
Solar energy in MT
Currently, the State of Mato Grosso is in 4th place in the ranking of distributed solar energy generation in the country, with 497 MW of installed power, behind only Minas Gerais (1.479 MW), São Paulo (1.079 MW) and Rio Grande do Sul (1.011 MW).
Between 2020 and 2021, Energisa, the company responsible for energy distribution in the state of Mato Grosso, recorded an increase of more than 200% in requests for project analysis for the inclusion of solar generation in the distribution network, which reveals an increase in consumer interest in photovoltaic sources in the region.
