Developing Brazil’s Market for Distributed Solar Generation

The research finds that demand-side factors are the primary drivers of distributed solar PV adoption in Brazil, often outweighing the availability of solar resources. Analysis shows that municipalities with higher GDP, larger populations, and higher electricity tariffs have more PV units, while solar radiation only becomes a significant positive predictor when comparing municipalities within the same electricity distributor's concession area. The authors argue that current subsidy policies in the Northeast region artificially lower tariffs, hindering PV growth in areas with the highest solar potential. They conclude that climate mitigation policies must address demand-side frictions and tariff structures rather than focusing solely on natural resource availability.

• Demand-side factors such as municipal GDP, population size, and electricity tariffs are the primary determinants of distributed solar PV penetration in Brazil, outweighing the influence of solar radiation.
• There is a negative correlation between solar radiation and the number of PV units at a national level, meaning municipalities with lower annual solar radiation often have more distributed solar generation units on average.
• Solar radiation only shows a significant positive correlation with PV adoption when the analysis is restricted to municipalities within the same electricity distributor's concession area, accounting for specific company policies.
• Electricity tariffs in Brazil's Northeast region are kept artificially low due to sector subsidy policies, which inhibits the adoption of distributed solar generation in the region with the highest solar potential.
• As of June 2017, distributed solar PV represents 69% of the total capacity and 99% of the total number of units in Brazil's decentralized energy system, though overall penetration remains low at 0.014% of total consumers.

APA

Assunção, J., & Schutze, A. (2017). Developing Brazil’s Market for Distributed Solar Generation. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Working_Paper_-_Distributed_Solar_Photovoltaic_Generation_in_Brazil.pdf

Chicago

Assunção, Juliano, and Amanda Schutze. Developing Brazil’s Market for Distributed Solar Generation. Climate Policy Initiative, 2017. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Working_Paper_-_Distributed_Solar_Photovoltaic_Generation_in_Brazil.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Assunção |first1=Juliano |last2=Schutze |first2=Amanda |title=Developing Brazil’s Market for Distributed Solar Generation |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=September 2017 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Working_Paper_-_Distributed_Solar_Photovoltaic_Generation_in_Brazil.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{assuno2017developing, author = {Assunção, Juliano and Schutze, Amanda}, title = {{Developing Brazil’s Market for Distributed Solar Generation}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2017}, month = sep, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Working_Paper_-_Distributed_Solar_Photovoltaic_Generation_in_Brazil.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }