According to a study effectuated by IEA, Brazil ranks among the top-5 countries who actively distribute solar energy worldwide.
The Brazilian solar thermal market has to face high interest rates, high tax burden and a lack of subsidies which causes low purchasing power. This complexity of facts leads to a context where higher acquisition efforts are required.
Up to now 8,4M m2 of solar thermal collectors have been installed in Brazil. The study highlights this corresponds to equivalent energy from a 0.96 “Angra 1” nuclear plant, from 1,800,000 tons of wood, or from 613,000,000 liters of gasoline per year.
Solar panels can be settled on residential houses, hospitals, social houses, residential buildings and even on swimming pools. The Minha Casa Minha Vida Program Survey reported that 80% of their interviewees are satisfied or very satisfied with solar heating. The study highlights also that there are opportunities for the solar energy industry as long as integrated structured actions are carried on. The study predicts that by 2020 16M m2 of solar collectors will be installed in Brazil. To get there further improvement should be done on research and development, training, reference projects, awareness-creation and regulations/incentives.
The largest application was residential collectors, which made up 83% of the nation's 2012 market, including 17% for residences through social programs. The vast majority at 74% was installed in the nation's highly populated Southeast region where Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo are located, with another 12% in the Southern region.
ABRAVA notes that the Brazilian solar thermal market benefits from strong natural solar potential as well as high energy prices, making solar thermal an attractive solution. However, Brazilians seeking to install solar thermal must also deal with high interest rates, a high tax burden and lack of subsidies, which results in low consumer purchasing power.
ABRAVA made this presentation for the Intersolar South America conference. The full presentation is available on the Solar Thermal World site.