This milestone comes after a 2021 in which 2 GW of photovoltaic energy have been added to Brazil’s installed capacity

The Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy (ABSOLAR) has announced on Twitter that the country’s photovoltaic sector has, as from August, 10 GW of installed capacity. This milestone, which in the words of the association itself is a “victory that reflects the effort and dedication of all those who strive for and believe in a more sustainable future”, has been achieved thanks to a photovoltaic installation effort in the last five months. Brazil managed to reach 8 GW of installed photovoltaic capacity in March and 9 GW in May, which means that in just five months it has added 2 GW of capacity to its photovoltaic generation network.

According to media outlets such as PV Magazine, the strong growth in the PV segment of distributed generation (a segment that includes all installations of up to 5 MW operating under the net metering scheme) is responsible, together with a growing number of bilateral bulk power purchase agreements, for this important development in Brazilian PV.

Brazil’s energy sector is one of the most renewables-oriented in the world, the proportion of renewables rising from 42.4% in 2012 to 46.1% in 2019, making it one of the world’s least carbon-intensive sectors in the world. The Brazilian renewables sector has traditionally been led by hydroelectric power (which in 2020 accounted for 65% of the country’s domestic electricity supply), wind (8.6%) and biomass (8.4%). Meanwhile, photovoltaic energy represented 1% of this domestic supply.