Brazil Boosts Clean Energy Beyond Hydropower

South America’s top hydropower producer, Brazil, has been installing a lot of other clean energy sources over the past half-decade, with solar and wind power now accounting for nearly one fourth of its power generation mix.

While Brazil boasts one of the biggest clean energy shares in power in the world, some of the previous market share held by hydro generation has been replaced by soaring wind and solar power generation. The share of hydropower in Brazil’s electricity production declined to 67% last year, from 74% in 2018, according to an analysis by Reuters’ Gavin Maguire, based on data from energy think tank Ember.

At the same time, the combined share of solar and wind in Brazil’s power generation jumped to 22% last year, from just 9% back in 2018, according to the data.

In July last year, Brazil generated more than a quarter of its electricity from wind and solar for the first time, data from Ember showed. Wind and solar generated a record 27% of Brazil’s electricity in July 2023, with 19% from wind and 8% from solar. This strong performance from renewables pushed fossil fuels to just 8.9% in July, Ember said in August.

Between January and August, the rise in wind and solar power generation more than met the continuing increase in electricity demand in Brazil, according to the think tank. Higher solar and wind power generation led to a further decline in the share of fossil fuels in Brazil’s electricity generation—down to just 6.9%, compared to 8.9% in 2022, according to Ember.

Hydropower continues to dominate the power mix, but solar and wind are rapidly gaining more share, which could help Brazil avoid energy crises such as the most recent one in 2021, when water reserves at a record low in 91 years of record-keeping hit hydropower generation.

This year, plentiful water in dams has ensured hydropower generation is high. This, coupled with soaring solar and wind power installations, have led to the lowest imports of natural gas in Brazil in two decades. 

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

• This Could Be A Gamechanger For Natural Gas In Europe
• Nigeria's Oil Output Closes in on 1.5 Million Bpd
• U.S. Seeks Semiconductor Supremacy with New Funding Initiatives