Brazil reaches a record 83.79 % of renewable sources in its electricity matrix

Rio de Janeiro, Sep 18 (EFE) - Brazil broke a record in the expansion of energy from renewable sources this year by reaching between January and August an additional 6.2 gigawatts (GW) of electricity generation from solar and wind sources, the government said Monday.

With the construction of new photovoltaic and wind power plants, the share of renewable sources in the electricity matrix reached a record 83.79% this year, making Brazil an international reference in clean energy, according to the Ministry of Mines and Energy.

The expansion of the installed capacity of Brazil's electricity matrix was 7 GW between January and August 2023.

Of this total, the solar source added 3 GW to the Brazilian energy matrix, while wind was responsible for an increase of 3.2 GW to the National Interconnected System (SIN).

According to the statement released, this is the highest increase in solar generation for the period and the second largest increase in wind energy in the historical series.

The ministry explained that between January and August 2023, there was the largest increase in centralized solar generation capacity in Brazil's history, not including micro and mini-distributed generation through solar panels installed in homes and businesses.

"In 2022, for example, the increase for the whole year was 2.5 GW, lower than the 2.8 GW already installed between January and August 2023," the portfolio said in its statement.

Of the total capacity added in 2023, 89.9% comes from wind (46%) and PV (43.9%).

The Ministry's target for generation expansion for the electricity sector is 10.3 GW by 2023.

Brazil has a large and well-known hydraulic potential composed of 1,351 hydroelectric power plants in operation that currently represent 56.17 % of the country's generation capacity, with a capacity of 109.8 GW.

In addition, biomass is another of the sources used by Brazil and represents 16.7 GW, in 634 plants. EFE

mat/rrt