The Brazilian Photovoltaic Solar Energy Association (Absolar) recently released a survey report showing that the national solar power generation capacity has exceeded 55 gigawatts, including large power plants connected to the National Interconnected System (SIN) grid and self-generation devices in small grid systems.

According to a report by the Brazilian National News Agency on March 23, the data indicates that most (37.4 gigawatts) of the solar power generation capacity comes from solar self-generation devices installed on the rooftops or backyards of around 5 million households nationwide, with the remaining approximately 17.6 gigawatts coming from large solar power plants connected to the national grid.

Absolar stated that solar power generation has so far reduced approximately 66.6 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Solar energy has become the second largest energy source in Brazil, with its installed capacity accounting for 22.2% of the total power matrix.

According to Zhong Jin's understanding, from January to March this year alone, Brazilian consumers added over 147,000 sets of solar power generation devices, which can power approximately 228,700 households. Absolar emphasized that since 2012, the photovoltaic industry has brought 251.1 billion Brazilian Reals in new investments to Brazil, created over 1.6 million green jobs, and contributed 78 billion Brazilian Reals in revenue to the national treasury.

The association pointed out that over 5,500 cities in various states of Brazil have installed solar power generation devices in small grid systems. States also have large centralized photovoltaic power stations connected to the national grid.

In self-consumption units, residential homes have the highest proportion at 69.2%, followed by businesses (18.4%) and farms (9.9%). In a nationwide perspective, Minas Gerais has the highest number of houses with solar power generation devices installed, exceeding 900,000. Following are São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul with 756,000 and 468,000 installations, respectively.

Despite the continuous expansion of solar power generation in Brazil, Absolar states that there are still challenges. The association points out that some distributors have canceled related projects, limiting the industry's growth; there are obstacles to electricity connections for small solar self-generation systems due to overload risks and lack of necessary technical research evidence; the lack of economic compensation from the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) for large solar power plants creates legal uncertainty, hindering new investments.

Therefore, Absolar calls for the prompt approval of the Basic Energy Income Program (Rebe) and the updating of Law No. 14,300/2022, which establishes regulations for microgeneration and distributed small-scale power systems.