Brazilian minister of mines and energy Fernando Coelho Filho has touted the potential of Brazil to become one of the largest global solar markets driven by the distributed generation segment.
In a meeting with the board of Brazilian public bank Banco do Nordeste (Northeast Bank) over the FNE Sun program, which provides a credit line for renewable energy-based distributed generation projects in the Northeast, Coelho Filho said that along with major solar and wind auctions, it was important to drive Brazilian PV through distributed generation.
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He said: “We came here to signal our animation with this initiative. I have no doubt that [it] is the distributed generation that will drive the growth of the solar industry. Brazil can become one of the greatest players of solar energy in the world.”
The minister said the Energy Research Company (EPE) will study ways to improve the hiring electrical sources in the auctions, explaining that the auctions can mask the true costs of energy to the consumer.
Banco Do Nordeste has already contracted BRL3.1 million (US$921,000) in credit for distributed generation. Meanwhile demand has reached more than BRL29.6 million.
Coelho Filho said the bank's directors that credit line conditions are “unbeatable” and that he has a lot of conviction that the costs are falling in this generation mode, especially in remote areas that are far from consumption centres.
The minister said there other initiatives being worked on for other banks to create credit lines for the ProGD, programme launched by the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
At the beginning of his tenure, the minister told industry members that he was open to renewables.
