Solar energy, 3rd largest in the country, grows 1 GW per month since February, says association

Brazil has just reached the mark of 17 gigawatts (GW) of installed power of solar energy, a source that since February this year has grown by 1 gigawatt per month, informed the Brazilian Association of Solar Energy (Absolar) this Friday (5). ).

Among large systems and installations on roofs, facades and small plots of land, the so-called distributed generation (DG), solar energy corresponds to 8.4% of the country’s electrical matrix, behind only hydroelectric and wind power plants, being today the third main source of electricity generation in Brazil.

Combined with the installed capacities of large plants and its own energy generation, solar sources rank third in the Brazilian electricity matrix, ahead of thermoelectric plants powered by natural gas and biomass.

According to Absolar, since 2012, BRL 90.5 billion has been invested in the sector, generating BRL 24.6 billion in government revenue and over 514,000 jobs. This also avoided the emission of 25.5 million tons of CO2 in the generation of electricity, informs the entity.

“The solar source helps to diversify the country’s electricity supply, reducing the pressure on water resources and the risk of even more increases in the population’s electricity bill”, says the president of Absolar, Rodrigo Sauaia.

He points out that large solar plants generate electricity at prices up to ten times lower than emergency fossil thermoelectric plants or electricity imported from neighboring countries, two of the main factors responsible for the increase in tariffs on consumers.

Brazil has approximately 5.3 GW of installed power in large-scale solar plants.

In the segment of own energy generation (GD), there are more than 11.9 GW of installed power from the solar source.

Solar technology is currently used in 98% of all self-generation connections in the country, clearly leading the segment.