EN 
PT_BR 
With the arrival of vaccines, more and more attention is turning to what the economic recovery will be like post-Covid19. The renewable energy sector during the pandemic surprised positively. Alongside civil construction, it did not stop and quickly resumed growth.
In Brazil, DG (distributed generation) should reach the mark of 4.4 GW this December. In 2020 alone, 2.2 GW of capacity will be added, 43% above last year. Adding centralized generation, the country will reach around 7.5 GW in solar energy.
But what to expect from foreign investments in Brazil? After all, who can the country count on in the coming years? Will interest in Brazil and renewable energy continue to drive investment?
China will remain our main partner. The electricity sector represents the majority of the country's investment stock in Brazil, followed by the oil and gas sector. China did not discover Brazil yesterday and has been investing in the country and Latin America for a long time.
Since the last auctions, solar energy has presented competitive prices compared to other energies. This has been accelerating Chinese investments in the energy sector and the high Chinese presence in the transmission sector. Added to this are the investments in wind and solar generation carried out in 2019, which reached 16% of Brazil's wind capacity, and 21% of its solar capacity, for a total of 2,822 MW.
One piece of information that points to the solidity of the Brazil-China trade relationship is that Brazilian imports from China in 2020, in total, practically did not fall, even in the midst of the pandemic. They fluctuated at just -0.9% in volume, compared to 2019, from January to November. Imports from the USA and the European Union fell -15% and -10.9%, respectively, in the same period.
Fossil fuels gained some traction during the pandemic. However, international pressure regarding climate issues has not abated and the medium and long-term outlook points to the advancement of renewable energy, especially solar energy.
The demand for electricity will grow even more with the replacement of combustion vehicles by electric ones, which will grow in the coming decades. The same reality will arrive in Brazil. It's only a matter of time. Fossil energy should receive less and less investment in future installed capacity. Biden's election in the USA is unlikely to change Chinese foreign policy.
China has already closed multilateral trade agreements in Asia and is now focusing on consolidating its presence in the infrastructure sector in Latin America. Chinese technology in solar generation should continue to be the most used in Latin America, following Chinese investments in the electricity sector. And the Brazilian market is at the center of priorities.
The country is ready to receive increasing investments in the renewable industry, benefiting from it as a source of new jobs and reducing its CO₂ emissions. Brazil already has an energy generation portfolio based on renewable sources and has enormous potential for solar generation, which is still little explored.
Taking advantage of these resources could not only alleviate the expected recession in the country as a result of the pandemic, but also place the country in a favorable strategic position in terms of energy security, necessary for sustainable growth in the coming decades.
Gradually the fog of uncertainty raised by the pandemic will dissipate and the trends that should prevail include the growth of renewable energy, especially solar energy. This will be the new normal: a greener and more sustainable economy.
