BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Wind and solar energy generated greater than a 3rd of Brazil’s electrical energy in August, the primary month on file the 2 renewable sources have crossed that threshold, in line with authorities knowledge made public on Thursday and analyzed by power assume tank Ember.
The clear power sources accounted for 34% of the nation’s electrical energy technology final month, producing a month-to-month file of 19 terawatt-hours (TWh), sufficient to energy about 119 million common Brazilian houses for a month, Ember informed The Related Press.
That surpassed the earlier excessive of 18.6 TWh set in September 2024. The milestone got here as hydroelectric output, Brazil’s dominant energy supply, fell to a four-year low.
“Brazil reveals how a quickly rising economic system can meet its rising want for electrical energy with photo voltaic and wind,” stated Raul Miranda, Ember’s world program director based mostly in Rio de Janeiro.
“Photo voltaic and wind are an ideal match for Brazil’s hydropower assets, taking the stress off in drought years. A diversified combine is a basic technique for tackling dangers associated to local weather change,” he stated.
Hydropo wer dips, fossil fuels keep low
Hydropower supplied 48% of electrical energy in August, solely the second month on file it has equipped lower than half of Brazil’s energy. Regardless of the weak hydro output, fossil gasoline crops, primarily powered by pure fuel, coal and oil, accounted for simply 14% of technology, or 7.8 TWh. In previous drought years, fossil gasoline use has spiked to cowl shortfalls, reaching 26% in August 2021.
Ember stated the fast progress of wind and photo voltaic helped Brazil keep away from comparable surges this yr.
Wind and solar energy are additionally reshaping the nation’s power combine. In 2024, they generated 24% of Brazil’s electrical energy, greater than double their share from 5 years earlier. Solar energy grew from simply over 1% of technology in 2019 to 9.6% in 2024, whereas wind climbed from 8.8% to fifteen% over the identical interval.
Brazil’s energy sector emissions peaked in 2014 and by 2024 had fallen 31% whilst electrical energy demand rose 22%, Ember stated. The assume tank credited a fifteenfold enhance in wind and photo voltaic technology with outpacing demand progress and reducing fossil technology by 45%.
Reward and warnings
Ricardo Baitelo, mission coordinator at Brazil’s Institute for Vitality and the Surroundings, stated the file displays greater than a decade of regular progress in wind and photo voltaic capability, with photo voltaic increasing quickly lately.
“It is a quantity that was anticipated, as a result of the put in capability of those sources has been constructed over at the least 15 years and, extra lately, with photo voltaic power,” he stated. “However it’s undoubtedly symbolic, and also you see these sources contributing a major fraction of electrical energy at a given second and exhibiting that they’re essential. They don’t seem to be different sources, they’re already a well-represented a part of Brazil’s electrical energy combine.”
He stated the milestone highlights Brazil’s shift from an nearly completely hydro-based energy system to at least one constructed on three foremost pillars: hydro, photo voltaic and wind. He added that Brazil is the one G20 nation at the moment on monitor to fulfill the purpose of sharply growing renewable power throughout the subsequent 5 years — a goal set on the U.N. COP28 local weather summit in Dubai in 2023.
“That is the massive warning and a yellow mild that might flip purple,” Baitelo stated. “And Brazil must take pressing measures to keep away from dropping this situation and this good instance of wind and photo voltaic deployment.”
Paulo Pedrosa, president of Abrace Energia, which represents giant power customers, stated Brazil’s heavy reliance on subsidies to broaden renewables, notably residential photo voltaic, has created distortions within the energy market.
“The surplus of renewable power subsidy fashions has elevated the price of power and, sarcastically, promoted the contracting of pricey thermal power, which is important to maintain the system balanced when there isn’t any wind and no solar,” Pedrosa stated.
He argued Brazil ought to give attention to utilizing its ample clear, low-cost power to spice up industrial output and competitiveness whereas contributing to world decarbonization.
Baitelo warned that with out reforms, fossil gasoline pursuits might seize the chance to broaden thermal technology in upcoming auctions, growing greenhouse fuel emissions whilst renewables develop.
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