Brazil saw 891MW of new utility-scale solar PV installed in August 2026, according to recent data from the country’s regulatory agency, the National Electricity Agency (ANEEL).
Solar PV accounted for almost half of the nearly 2GW of new utility-scale capacity added last month and for most of the new power plants entering operation, with 15 out of 20.
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Until the end of August, solar PV contributed the most to the grid with 3.5GW out of 4.8GW of new installed capacity this year. The numbers for utility-scale solar PV have already outpaced the total registered in 2025, when Brazil added 2.8GW of utility-scale solar PV and 8.8GW of distributed generation.
Cumulatively, utility-scale solar PV sat at 23.6GW as of 8 September 2026, according to data from ANEEL, which would represent a little over 10% of the total installed capacity across all technologies in Brazil. Recent data from trade body ABSOLAR recorded 76.6GW of installed solar PV in the country at the end of August 2026. ABSOLAR’s data accounts for both utility-scale and distributed solar, the latter of which significantly outpaces the former in Brazil.
A further 32 projects for a combined 1.5GW utility-scale solar PV are under construction, representing 17% of the total new power generation capacity under construction. When looking at projects still under development, solar PV technology represents 81% of the total capacity with 70.8GW.
Brazil remains one of the largest markets for solar PV, both in terms of cumulative installed capacity and annual installations at the end of 2025. Data from trade body SolarPower Europe (SPE) placed the Latin American country in fifth and sixth position, respectively.
Moreover, SPE forecasts that Brazil will add a further 67GW of new solar PV capacity over the next five years, only behind China, India, the US and Germany.
However, one of the main challenges the country faces is the curtailment of solar PV that continues to increase and is set to worsen in the coming years due to a government bill mandating 2.5GW of new gas-fired power plants. A recent analysis from Aurora Energy Research forecast a 12% curtailment increase for renewable energy plants caused by that mandate when the gas-fired power plants are commissioned by 2032.
