According to research carried out by Greener, with data consolidated until February, Minas Gerais is the state with greater accumulated power of awarded projects directed both towards the Free market as for the Regulated, with 33.85GW.
O Strategic Study Large Solar Plants 2023 pointed out that the Minas Gerais state leads in isolation, followed by Piauí (11.76 GW) and Bahia (11.06 GW).
Specifically in relation to the ACL (Free Contracting Environment), Greener indicated that the projects with grants are also mostly in the states of Minas Gerais, Bahia and Piauí.
Rio Grande do Norte and Goiás, for example, are not among those with the most projects operating, but they are home to plants that have started construction or are about to start, indicating a diversification in the location of centralized photovoltaic systems in the future.
When analyzing the largest solar complexes granted in the ACL, under construction or in operation, the research again indicates the predominance of Minas Gerais. Among the five largest complexes in the country, two are located in the state of Minas Gerais: Parque Solar Janaúba III (870 MW), and Parque Pirapora II (495 MW).
Government initiatives explain MG’s predominance
According to the consultancy, state government initiatives help explain the relevance of certain states in photovoltaic generation, as is the case of Minas Gerais.
“The state aims to strengthen its role in the sector through actions that involve tax incentives in generation and the production chain, reducing bureaucracy in the environmental licensing process for solar plants, training municipal managers in city halls to enable the development of projects in governments in who work, among others,” he told Greener.
With a greater number of projects in the state, substations located in Minas receive and expect to receive even more connections, as shown in the Large Solar Plants 2023 Strategic Study.
Given the number of solar plants concentrated in Minas Gerais, a point of attention is the flow capacity in the region, as pointed out by the Greener Insight The Challenges in Broadcast Access.
At the beginning of 2023, the ONS (National Electric System Operator) issued a note stating the exhaustion of transmission capacity in the northern region of the state of Minas Gerais and in the Northeast, making the issuance of access opinions restrictive or conditional on the works tendered. .
On the other hand, the study stated that companies of different nationalities are investing in Brazilian regions that are relatively little explored in the solar segment, seeking less competition.
Some states such as Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul and Rondônia are locations sought after by investors in large distributed generation projects. In Greener's view, depending on the project and connection conditions, choosing less targeted states can also be an alternative and help the development of centralized photovoltaic generation in the country.