Amid the climate crisis in Brazil and the new increase in Brazilians' electricity bills, which will rise from October with the red flag level 2 – the most expensive level in the sector – renewable generation, including solar, wind, biomass and hydro sources, has contributed to the supply of electricity in a clean and competitive way.
Additionally, the renewable sources have prevented an even greater increase in pollutant emissions for electricity generation in the country, considering the current moment of increased burning of fossil fuels faced by the sector.
According to mapping of ABSOLAR (Brazilian Photovoltaic Energy Association), based on data and estimates from ONS (National Electric System Operator), the solar source was responsible for 9,6% of all electricity supply in Brazil, between the months of August and September from 2024 (01/08 to 19/09), with more than 7,5 thousand MWmed, with just over half of the supply coming from systems installed on roofs and small plots of land (4,6 thousand MWmed).
Adding other renewable sources, such as hydro (49 thousand MWmed), wind (11 thousand MWmed) and biomass (1,4 thousand MWmed), the Association highlighted that the renewable supply in this period reached around 90,4% of Brazilian electricity demand.
In October, Brazilian consumers will pay, with the red flag level 2, an additional charge of almost 8%, with R$ 7,877 for every 100 kWh consumed in the month, as a result of the activation of emergency fossil-fuel thermoelectric plants.
In evaluating the ABSOLAR, this scenario could be even more worrying. With more than 47 GW of installed operational capacity, including large plants and small solar self-generation systems, photovoltaic technology has already prevented the emission of 57 million tons of CO2 in electricity generation since 2012.
During the previous water crisis, in 2021, until then the biggest in the last 91 years, the government created the “red flag of water scarcity” and consumers bore additional costs of R$28 billion, due to the use of all emergency fossil thermoelectric plants and the import of electricity from Argentina and Uruguay.
The specialized consultancy Volt Robotics conducted a study on the role of distributed solar generation during that period and found that the cost would have been R$41,6 billion, or 48,6% higher, if society did not have its own solar generation. At that time, Brazil had only 7,5 GW in solar systems on rooftops and small plots of land.
According to the Association, the current climate crisis in Brazil, which has already caused billions in impacts on society, with flooding, historic droughts, fires and more spending on public health, would be at an even worse level if it were not for the relief in demand and water resources provided by non-hydro renewable sources.
“Without these renewable sources, tariffs would be higher, the risk to supply would be greater and the air would be overloaded with more pollutants and greenhouse gases,” said Rodrigo Sauaia, CEO of ABSOLAR.
In the view of Ronaldo Koloszuk, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ABSOLAR, the current scenario raises an alert for the need to reinforce planning and investments in the infrastructure of the electricity sector, especially in transmission lines and new ways of storing clean and renewable energy, generated in abundance in the country.
“The use of renewable energy combined with storage technologies can further alleviate pressure on electricity tariffs and the resulting increase in inflation, which erodes household purchasing power and the competitiveness of productive sectors. In this scenario, solar energy is one of the best solutions to protect against tariff flags and, thus, ease the burden on Brazilians’ pockets, given an increasingly challenging water scenario,” concluded Koloszuk.
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