The Rise of the Yieldcos
July 31, 2014New US trade sanctions on Taiwan and Chinese made solar cells will prove as ineffective as the 2012 duty
August 6, 2014Solar Energy Brazil
It has been puzzling why solar energy is not growing in Brazil, as the country has high solar radiation and high electricity prices. Brazil is an ideal place for solar energy to boom, however growth has been anemic compared to other BRICs nation such as China, India and South Africa. Brazil suffers from high electricity prices as the company is dependent on hydro energy, which can fall precipitously during the summer months. This causes wholesale prices to jump to as high as 40c/kWh. This is almost 4 times the price of solar energy these days, where large solar farms can generate solar power at 10-11c/kWh easily.
The main reason for the slow growth in solar energy in Brazil was the auction process for building renewable energy capacity by ANEEL. The auction did not have separate reserves for solar or wind energy. This meant that solar energy was at a disadvantage because wind energy is cheaper than solar energy in wholesale generation. Wind energy took the lion’s share of the wins during the auction. Now the country is making moves to correct this disparity. There will be a separate reserve for solar energy in the upcoming auction as per IHS. The research organization estimates that around 500 MW of solar energy will be reserved during this round and that 3.5 GW of the solar energy will be installed over the next 5 years.
I think that Brazil can do much more than 3.5 GW as solar energy is economical on its own. It just needs the regulatory and interconnection framework to be in order for solar energy to grow, particularly in the residential and commercial segments. There are large profits to be made by installing solar energy instead of buying expensive wholesale electricity.
Brazil’s plan to auction 3.5GW of PV capacity through 2018 comes as welcome news for the global solar industry as the ambitious plan is expected to catalyze solar growth in Latin America, according to IHS. The ceiling price for the 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for bids is likely to be set at approximately RS250 per megawatt-hour (MWh), or US$112 per MWh.