Banca de DEFESA: THIAGO FRANÇA SIMONETTI

GEOSPATIAL DYNAMICS OF WIND AND SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER PLANTS IN NORTHEAST BRAZIL (1998 TO 2023).

Geospatial analysis, Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Northeast Brazil

The contemporary energy transition is a response to the demands of a changing world. Brazil is a world leader in this scenario and the Northeast region is emerging as the main exponent of the energy transition in Brazil. The area stands out for its physical-territorial conditions which are conducive to the generation of electricity from wind and solar power, making it possible to observe, throughout the first quarter of the 21st century, a rapid expansion of power generation plants in this segment. From this context, the concerns and motivations for this work are represented by the following questions: What were the milestones that characterized the implementation of wind and solar power plants in the Brazilian Northeast? What are the dynamics of the spatial distribution of wind and solar photovoltaic power plants in the Brazilian Northeast during the implementation process? And finally, based on the plants that have already been granted licenses and have not yet been completed, what are the prospects for the evolution of the implementation process of wind and solar photovoltaic power plants in the Brazilian Northeast? In order to elucidate these questions, the main objective of this dissertation is to develop a characterization of the implementation process of wind and solar photovoltaic power plants in the Brazilian Northeast, based on geospatial analysis through cartographic representation. To this end, point density analysis techniques were used to understand the dynamics of the spatial distribution of these plants over the period studied. As a result, it can be seen that solar photovoltaic plants have a more dispersed spatial distribution pattern, while wind power plants have a more concentrated pattern. In addition, there is a gradual transition underway in the scenario of prominence between the two energy sources studied. The number of projects already licensed in the Brazilian Northeast as of December 2023 suggests that the number of plants and, consequently, the energy capacity generated from the solar photovoltaic matrix will significantly outnumber wind power production as of 2024.