THE EXPANSION OF THE CENTRALIZED GENERATION OF PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR ENERGY IN BRAZIL: The case of the RN and its reflections on environmental and regional issues
Regulatory and Environmental Policies. Renewable energy. Photovoltaic Solar Energy.
Environmental sustainability is a worldwide concern in the face of the notion that the planet's resources are exhausting and today's societies increasingly need the means to meet their demands. From this reality, the search for new sources of renewable energies has become a primacy that has to be observed as an instrument of adaptation in relation to the current climate changes. Such a search aims both at mitigating the negative environmental effects of fossil fuels that generate greenhouse gases (GHG) and in the search for supply models that provide energy security. Thus, the production of solar energy presents itself, within the national energy policy, as an alternative of low environmental impact, and as a strategy of the electric sector to increase the national energy matrix. From this context, the present study analyzed whether the growth of solar photovoltaic energy production was the result of a regulatory and environmental policy of the sector; and if such measures imply an increase
in the centralized photovoltaic generation projects implemented in Rio Grande do Norte. The research process was based on bibliographical research, fieldwork with a semi-structured interview with the responsible operators of the projects, aiming at characterizing the expansion of solar energy in Brazil within the regulated contracting environment (ACR) and its repercussion in the state of the newborn. The research results showed that there has not yet been a consolidation of photovoltaic energy growth in the country, since this growth depends on technological innovations to become competitive within the regulated market, thus increasing its participation within the matrix energy.