Solar photovoltaics in Brazil: A promising renewable energy market

Brazil is facing huge challenges with its electricity supply. The Brazilian government started to promote large-scale deployment of solar energy to diversify the electricity mix. The country's abundant solar resource, the growing electricity demand and the fast than expected price decrease in PV technology globally create favorable conditions for the uptake of solar power in Brazil. The recent solar-only electricity auctions took place in both the state and national level have shown promising results where the contracted prices of solar power were comparable with conventional energy sources. Solar energy is seen as a promising complementary energy source for the country. This paper will review recent development of the electricity sector in Brazil and the potential of solar PV applications in the country. It will discuss the results of the two solar-only electricity auctions took place between 2013 and 2014 and presents viable strategies to promote the uptake of solar power based on the successful adoption of wind energy in Brazil over the past 5 years.