Brazilian solar association ABSOLAR says by April 24, 2020 the country's operational solar power capacity grew to 5,576 MW, which is a growth of 25% over a period of Q1/2020. On January 1, 2020 the capacity was recorded at 4,470 MW.
While sharing these statistics on its LinkedIn account, ABSOLAR said this 25% growth during the first quarter period also includes 30 days of quarantine imposed in the country due to COVID-19 pandemic. ABSOLAR explains this capacity includes 2.68 GW of utility scale solar PV plants and 2.42 GW of distributed generation capacity. It claims that solar PV is the technology currently used in 99.8% of all distributed connections in the country.
While large scale solar capacity entails investment of around BRL 14 billion ($2.5 billion), distributed generation represents investment of BRL 12.8 billion ($2.29 billion).
The association expects the Brazilian solar market to continue on the growth path despite the pandemic related crisis as solar is well positioned to help Brazil recover in the post COVID-19 period. ABSOLAR's CEO Rodrigo Sauaia said, "In the 2015 and 2016 economic crises in Brazil, the country's GDP was retreating at -3.5% per year, but the solar photovoltaic sector grew over +300% every year. This way, we helped the recovery of the country in the past. Now, once the most acute phase of the COVID-19 global pandemic is left behind, solar PV will once again boost Brazil's recovery and growth. Solar PV will definitely be part of the solution, both to our society and to the environment
What's needed right now, said Ricardo Baitelo of ABSOLAR's Technical-Regulatory Department, is for companies to put their accounts in order and prepare to go through this storm.
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