Just as with cell phones and computers, technological developments and the growth in product offerings are accelerating the spread of solar energy around the world. Solar energy is being driven by the energy transformation the world is undergoing, from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
What was once a hotly debated topic in past decades is now a consensus among nations: climate change requires decarbonizing the global energy matrix. This consensus gained even greater strength with the election of Joe Biden in the US, who has made combating climate change the top priority of his term.
In April this year, Biden led the Global Leaders Climate Summit, in a meeting attended by the heads of state of 40 countries: the main economies on the planet, responsible for 80% of CO₂ emissions, representatives of the nations most vulnerable to global warming, as well as countries that lead environmental preservation actions.
World leaders agree that we are experiencing an economic revolution that brings immense opportunities for the global economy. New technologies, markets and business models are flourishing in the wake of the energy transformation towards renewables. The global supply of photovoltaic equipment, for example, has grown and diversified, favoring market supply, promoting cost reduction and attracting investment. Storage technologies are following the same path.
In Brazil, the solar market is mature and is a very important player in the national economy. Distributed solar energy is present in 95% of the 5.570 Brazilian municipalities. There are today more than 470 thousand installations that together reach 5,5 GW in installed power.
Energy that was financed directly by consumers, promoting savings in long-distance transmission, in addition to contributing to preserving the level of hydroelectric reservoirs, minimizing the use of thermal plants, delaying the application of tariff flags on the energy bill.
In order for solar energy penetration to grow in this way, the supply of financing for distributed generation has expanded significantly in recent years. In addition to the large banks, there are dozens of fintechs competing in the growing market for financing lines for solar energy.
Read also PL 5829 is removed from the agenda due to lack of consensus among parliamentarians
This gives small consumers access to the resources to effectively produce their own electricity. Today, there are excellent options for installing a solar system, using a minimum outlay of your own resources. In addition to benefiting all those who invest and consume electricity, solar energy also creates many jobs, a relief in times of economic crisis. The distributed generation sector, which grew 60% in 2020, currently generates more than 250 thousand jobs throughout the country.
Distributed generation is of broad interest to Brazilian society and, therefore, will be regulated by its own legislation, discussed in the Congress. All of this makes solar energy the democratic solution par excellence. The pioneers who built the solar market in Brazil by are now certain that the hard journey to this point was well worth it. They also know that we are ready for the next leap.
