Photovoltaic Generation Potential of Paraná State, Brazil – A Comparative Analysis with European Countries

AbstractThe theme of sustainable development has increasingly impacted the spheres of Brazilian society and has contributed to greater awareness to the need of natural resources conservation as well as issues on how to continue promoting socio-economic development of regions. One of the key issues for sustainable development is the generation of electricity with more use of renewable sources and, therefore, less environmental degradation. In this scenario, historically, Paraná State of Brazil has been one of the largest producers of electricity in the country, almost entirely from hydraulic source, due to the large existing river basin in the state. However, the use of this source in Brazil is declining due to depletion of water potential and also the pressure of society with respect to environmental, social and economic impacts caused by damming of rivers and flooding of cities and areas to form large reservoirs. To overcome these limitations, other sources have been studied and used, such as biomass and wind. Photovoltaic generation has been contemplated in Brazilian government policies only to supply electricity with off-grid systems in remote locations. However, due to the recent Resolution 482/2012 of ANEEL (Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency), which establishes rules for micro and mini-generation of electricity, it is possible that consumers install grid connected photovoltaic systems up to 1 MWp, as have been widely used in the urban environment installed or integrated on roofs as a form of distributed generation, particularly in Europe, where counts with installed capacity in GW range, while in Brazil it counts only with a few MW. Given this new perspective of growth of the Brazilian photovoltaic electricity generation this paper presents the potential of solar photovoltaic power generation in Paraná State, Brazil, with a comparative analysis with the potential presented by some European countries. The presented solar and photovoltaic maps uses irradiation data obtained from SWERA project (Solar and Wind Energy Resources Assessment), which was coordinated in Brazil by National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The results of this analysis can contribute to development of public policies related to projects and researches in photovoltaic aiming to spread the use of this renewable energy source in Paraná