Energy specialist Emilio Lèbre La Rovere, from the Instituto Humanitas Usinos, argues that now is the time for Brazil to start investing in solar energy. Though costs are still high, decentralised energy generation could eventually reduce costs and improve reliability by avoiding long transmission lines and fluctuations in power. An example is the Pituaçu football stadium in Salvador, Bahia, which supplies power to the grid when matches are not being played. Without the power generated by the stadium’s solar panels, expensive transmission lines would have to be installed to supply equivalent electricity to the area.
The orignal article in Portuguese can be accessed here.