Study points out cities that invest most in renewables in Brazil

Belo Horizonte (MG) is the 9th city in the municipal ranking of photovoltaic DG (distributed generation) with 30 MW of power – which represents 0.6% of installed capacity in Brazil. Furthermore, the municipality is considered one of those that invests the most in renewables in the national territory. 

This is what the 2021 edition of the Global Status Report on Renewable Energy in Cities in Europe pointed out. REN21, the main assessment of the energy transition efforts of cities around the world.

According to the study, BH established a commitment to zero emissions in 2020, as did Cáceres (MT) and Itu (SP), which also reached 100% of their targets for renewables in municipal buildings and operations last year. 

In total, the research indicated that 13 municipalities have clean energy goals or policies in Brazil. Despite being considered a low level, this covers 51.6 million people – 28% of Brazil's urban population.

Curitiba (PR), Palmas (TO) and Recife (PE) also have targets to neutralize carbon emissions, but for later years (2030, 2022 and 2037, respectively).

Among the other highlights are Uberlândia (MG) – which almost tripled its photovoltaic solar capacity between mid-2019 and 2020, to almost 50 MW, and São Paulo (SP), which joined the global trend of electric mobility – in 2019, for For example, the municipal government integrated 15 electric buses into its fleet and decided that these will be powered by solar energy.

Read more: EV sales are expected to surpass those of combustion cars by 2035

Latin America

The REN21 survey also showed that in Latin America investment in renewable energy capacity grew significantly from 2019 to 2020. The increase recorded was 43%. 

According to the study, Brazil, considered the largest market in this region, dominated contributions, with an increase of 74%, accumulating US$ 6.5 billion.