BH excludes solar panels from the concept of built area

The municipality of Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais, published the Law 11506/2023 which excludes areas below photovoltaic panels for power generation or water heating, and the respective support structures, from the concept of built area, as long as they do not serve as a roof or are not used as a balcony, garage, leisure area, rest and the like.

According to the mayor Faud Noman (PSD), the text reduces bureaucracy procedures and relieves taxpayers. A proposal was presented by councilor Braulio Lara (New).

O parliamentarian alleged legal uncertainty in the installation of these signs in BH, since some inspections consider it as an increase in built area, requiring a new dereliction and construction certificate, penalizing companies and taxpayers that adhere to clean energy and inhibiting those who want to adopt it, reprimanding rather than encouraging the measure.

According to him, the measure actively contributes to the environment and the act of penalizing those who add sustainability goes against global actions.

For Braulio Lara, the legislation is an advance for the city, as it favors the generation of clean energy and is a way of preserving the environment. “One of the issues was the divergence of interpretation of what would actually generate discounts or not in the built area. So, this law brings an improvement to the Building Code and I am sure it will make it much easier for those who want to undertake in this area and also for those people who want to install this equipment in their homes or in their companies”, he stated.

According to data from ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency), BH has 12,389 consumer units with photovoltaic solar energy, totalizing 88 MW of installed capacity.