EN 
PT_BR 
You farmers Brazilians have increasingly sought alternatives for increase profitability of your business and one of the most popular ways to do this has been through investments in the acquisition of solar energy.
Data from ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) show that last year there was a increase of 63% in the number of photovoltaic systems installed on rural properties: 42.9 thousand connections in 2021 against 70.2 thousand in 2022.
The reason for this increase is because solar energy, in addition to being a clean and renewable energy source, can generate savings of up to 95% on the electricity bill and provide an increase in farmers' profit margins - which, consequently, allows investments to be made in new machinery and products.
The small farmer Juliano Luiz dos Santos, from the city of São José do Belmonte, in the backlands of Pernambuco, for example, increased passion fruit production in his rural enterprise after installing a 3.3 kWp photovoltaic system, with six 550W solar panels.
Before the installation, Juliano's electricity bill was always around R$ 500.00 to R$ 800.00 per month to power his plantation's irrigation system. After installing the technology, his bill dropped to R$ 10.00 per month.
“I managed to increase my production largely due to solar energy, because I would not be able to pay the energy bill to irrigate this production. Before, I had an idea that too much sun might harm us, but now, it only helps us, as I managed to increase production from 1,900 passion fruit trees to more than 3,000 this year”, said Juliano.
Savings of R$ 45 thousand per month
The coffee producer Rodrigo Colombi, from the city of Vila Valério, in Espírito Santo, also invested in solar energy and installed four solar plants on its 440-hectare property with 872 460W panels, which together add up to 401.1 kWp of installed power.
Three of the plants are estimated to generate 13,500 kW per month, built on an area of 800 m². The fourth system will generate 7,800 kW per month, built in an area of 500 m².
The systems, installed by Solarprime, at different points on the farm, generate for the farmer all the energy necessary to operate the farm's irrigation pumps and coffee dryers during harvest periods.
In all, Rodrigo now has savings of R$ 45 thousand per month on the electricity bill and an increase of two to three thousand bags of coffee more than when they did not have the photovoltaic system installed on their premises.
“Investment in solar energy is very advantageous, as the payback is extremely fast and, after that, we will have savings of up to 95% on the energy bill for the next two decades”, said the farmer.
