Brazil eliminates import duties for cells, modules, inverters and trackers

The Brazilian government has u-turned over solar equipment import duty by introducing a measure to remove the 12% levy for 101 types of module plus some inverters and trackers. President Jair Bolsonaro had vetoed a similar proposal by the Senate and House of Representatives in November, stating it would be too costly.

The president’s opposition to lifting the solar import duty is set to be overturned on August 1.

Image: PRESIDENTE JAIR MESSIAS BOLSONARO/Flickr

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From pv magazine Latin America.

Brazil’s Resolution No. 70, of July 16 – published on Monday in official journal Diário Oficial da União – will remove import duties for goods including several types of PV module, inverter and solar tracker.

The measure, taken by the Foreign Chamber of Commerce of the Ministry of Economy, listed 101 types of exempt solar module as well as some three-phase inverters and trackers.

The law will come into effect on August 1. Although there is no local content requirement for either large solar projects allocated in auctions or distributed generation systems with a capacity of up to 5 MW, the use of ‘Made in Brazil’ modules in PV plants opens access to finance from national development bank BNDES and other government bodies.

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Chinese module manufacturer Amerisolar announced in late April it was planning to open a 200 MW module factory in Brazil via a joint venture with domestic renewables company Nova Renováveis. Chinese-Canadian panel maker Canadian Solar operates a 360 MW module assembly fab in Sorocaba, in the state of Sao Paulo, and Chinese group BYD also has a module factory in the state.

Most PV equipment imported by Brazil pays a 12% duty at present.

In November, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro vetoed a bill approved by the nation’s Senate and House of Representatives which exempted solar equipment from the import tax on the basis, according to the government’s official bulletin, the move would have reduced state income.

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