According to a survey by the Brazilian Solar Photovoltaic Energy Association (ABSOLAR), Brazil has just surpassed the mark of 300 thousand distributed photovoltaic solar generation connections. Since 2012, distributed generation from the solar source has already represented 3.6 gigawatts of installed operational capacity, having been responsible for attracting more than R $ 18.2 billion in new investments to the country and generating more than 108 thousand jobs accumulated in the period, spread across the five national regions.

In number of systems installed, residential consumers are at the top of the list, representing 72.5% of the total. Next, there are companies from the commerce and services sectors (17.7%), rural consumers (6.8%), industries (2.6%), public authorities (0.4%) and other types, such as services (0.03%) and public lighting (0.01%).

In installed power, consumers in the commerce and services sectors lead the use of photovoltaic solar energy, with 39.1% of the installed power in the country, closely followed by residential consumers (38.0%), rural consumers (12.7 %), industries (8.8%), public authorities (1.2%) and other types, such as public services (0.1%) and public lighting (0.02%).

The more than 300 thousand systems connected to the network provide financial savings and environmental sustainability to 374.4 thousand consumer units. Now, photovoltaic solar technology is already present in more than 5,000 municipalities and in all Brazilian states. The top 5 in installed capacity are: Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Paraná and Mato Grosso.

Historical survey carried out by ABSOLAR shows that, in the last twelve months, approximately 162 thousand new distributed generation systems from the solar source were added in Brazil, an increase of more than 130% in the period.

Although it has advanced in recent years, Brazil - holder of one of the best solar resources on the planet - still has a very small market in distributed generation, as it has more than 84.4 million consumers of electricity and only 0.4 % uses the sun to produce electricity.

“Solar energy will play an increasingly strategic role in achieving the country's economic development goals, especially at this time, to help the economy recover after the pandemic, since it is the renewable source that generates more jobs in the world”, points out ABSOLAR's vice president of distributed generation, Bárbara Rubim.

“In 2015 and 2016, Brazil's GDP fell by more than -3.5% per year, but the solar photovoltaic sector grew by more than 100% in the same period. With this, the sector helped the country to get out of that economic crisis faster. Now, the photovoltaic solar source will leverage Brazil's recovery once again. Solar is part of the solution, both for our society and for the environment ”, comments ABSOLAR's executive president, Rodrigo Sauaia.