Brazil

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a new report that solar will remain the main source of global renewable capacity expansion in 2023, accounting for 286 GW. In 2024, the figure is set to grow to almost 310 GW, driven by lower module prices, greater uptake of distributed PV systems, and a policy push for large-scale deployment.

A new generation of flexible, lightweight modules is entering the market. With back contact technology offering its own form of design flexibility and robustness, the new products could crack a hard-to-address market segment.

The country has added 15 GW of new PV capacity since January 2022. In 2023 alone, it deployed 4.4 GW of new solar power, of which 3.15 GW comes from distributed generation and 1,24 GW from utility scale PV.

Centralized and distributed-generation PV plants in in Brazil generated less than expected last year, according to a study by Brazilian consultancy Greener.

Dutch and Brazilian ports have signed a cooperation deal involving port development and green hydrogen production, while Thyssenkrupp Nucera has released a new alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) module.

In terms of centralized generation, the country has more than 104.4 GW of awarded projects still under construction or in development, while in distributed generation, there was more than 30 GW as of February from projects with connection requests made by Jan. 1. In both segments, the availability of network connections remains a barrier in carrying out projects.

A mapping of green hydrogen projects in Brazil shows that there are at least 42 projects under various stages of development in the country.

Atlas Renewable Energy has signed an unprecedented 21-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Albras, the largest aluminum producer in Brazil. It is the longest corporate renewables PPA ever signed in Latin America.

Brazil’s distributed-generation solar capacity has hit 20.186 GW, with more than 10.204 GW of residential rooftop installations.

Brazilian developers have already installed at least 2.1 GW of distributed-generation solar and more than 1.3 GW of centralized PV this year. At this average pace of 21.1 MW per day, installers could build 7.71 GW of distributed-generation PV in 2023.