Civil society and entities publish an open letter in favor of solar energy

Updated on 3/9/2021

Associations from different segments of the economy, solar energy and agribusiness released an open letter to Brazilian society in defense of the photovoltaic DG (distributed generation) segment. The document was sent, via official letter, to President Jair Bolsonaro.

In the open letter, signed by 24 representative associations, the entities defend the right of Brazilian consumers to generate their own energy in their municipality.

President Bolsonaro has already taken a position on the topic several times. “There are people interested in taxing. It's all the time taxing the people. There is no negotiation with me to serve any lobbyist group”, he said at the beginning of January 2020 in front of his official residence.

During the Amapá energy crisis, Bolsonaro stated that energy security is as important as food security for a country's development. 

In addition to the regional solar energy associations linked to FAIRES (Front of Regional Solar Energy Associations and Institutes), entities linked to the country's agribusiness subscribe. Among them, the Aprosoja (Brazilian Association of Soy Producers) Brazil, demonstrating the engagement of agribusiness in defending distributed solar generation in Brazil.

Anesolar (Northeastern Solar Energy Association), representing the nine states of the Northeast, and the AMAMS (Association of Municipalities in the Sudene Mining Area), which represents the 165 municipalities in the Mineira da Sudene area.

In the open letter, the entities emphasize that generating their own electrical energy, through clean, renewable and sustainable sources, such as the sun, wind, biomass, biogas and others, is a right provided for in article 170 of the Constitution, which deals with the principles that must permeate the construction of legislation that directly affects the economic relations of society.

Furthermore, they state that distributed generation, or at the same place of consumption, prevents “energy losses” which, according to ANEEL, represent 14% of all energy generated in Brazil. “It turns out that this loss is charged to all consumers through a portion added to the tariffs for transmission, use and distribution of the networks”, says the letter.

The document also highlights that an extremely relevant factor is that solar generation intensifies or has generation peaks in the period from 11 am to 3 pm, which coincides with the new time of highest energy consumption, according to the ONS (National System Operator) . “In practice, photovoltaic generation is helping to alleviate the pressure on hydroelectric reservoirs.”

Another highlight in the document is about generating income and jobs in the country. “In the distributed generation segment, approximately 15 thousand companies operate, the vast majority of which are micro and small companies. The sector in recent years has generated more than 150 thousand jobs”, states the document.

According to Hewerton Martins, president of MSL (Associação Movimento Solar Livre), the letter is open to new members from entities representing any sector of the economy.

“It is not a sectoral cause of solar energy, it is a cause of Brazilian society that cannot remain underdeveloped in the issue of distributed solar energy and lose this opportunity to generate thousands of jobs in different sectors of the economy”, increasing the country's productive capacity, highlighted Martins.

Read the letter and see all the associations that signed the open letter.