Brazil’s Utility Scale Solar Capacity Tops 2 GW

• Utility scale solar power capacity in Brazil that's connected to the grid has crossed 2 GW milestone as on March 7, 2019 with 73 projects online
• It now accounts for 1.2% of the total power supply in the country, surpassing 1.99 GW of operational nuclear power here
• States of Bahia, Minas Gerais and Piaui have the maximum concentration of the operational utility capacity

Brazilian PV association ABSOLAR announced the country's large-scale grid connected solar power capacity has crossed the 2 GW mark on March 7, 2019. Compiling numbers from Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency ANEEL, the lobby group says as on the mentioned date, solar power capacity of utility scale plants was 2,056 MW, accounting for 1.2% of the country's total energy mix.

Solar is now the 7^th largest energy source in Brazil. It has overtaken nuclear, which has 1,990 MW operational in the country.

Bahia, Minas Gerais and Piaui are the states where most large-scale installations are up and running. Overall, a cumulative of 73 large scale solar power projects in the country are connected to the grid. All these projects were awarded under Brazil's competitive auction rounds.

"Since the first federal auction held in 2014, the solar photovoltaic sector has brought to Brazil more than R$10 billion ($2.55 billion) in new private investments and tens of thousands of local quality jobs. Brazil has one of the best solar resources in the world and we are just starting to take advantage of it," said ABSOLAR CEO Rodrigo Sauaia.

Solar will also be part of the A-4 auction scheduled for June 27, 2019 in Brazil where it will compete with wind, hydropower and biomass (see Solar In A-4 Brazil Auction).

ABSOLAR doesn't mention distributed generation capacity of the country in its press statement, but adding the 500 MW for this segment, which was published by the association in January 2019, Brazil has crossed 2.55 GW of total installed solar power capacity (see Distributed Solar Crosses 500 MW Mark In Brazil).