Rio de placas? A expansão da geração centralizada de energia solar fotovoltaica no RN

Abstract

Environmental sustainability is a worldwide concern in the face of the notion that the planet's resources are exhaustible, and today's societies increasingly need means to meet their demands. From this reality, the search for new sources of renewable energy has become a primacy that has to be observed as an instrument of adaptation in relation to the current climate changes. Indeed, this search is aimed at both mitigating the negative environmental effects of fossil fuels that generate Greenhouse Gases (GHG), as well as the search for supply models that provide energy security. Thus, the production of solar energy is presented, within the national energy policy, as an alternative with low environmental impact, and as a strategy for the electricity sector to increase the national energy matrix. From this context, the present research analyzed whether the growth in the production of photovoltaic solar energy was the result of a regulatory and environmental policy in the sector; and, if such measures implied an increase in the centralized photovoltaic generation projects implemented in Rio Grande do Norte. The investigation process took place from bibliographic research, fieldwork with the application of semistructured interviews with the operators responsible for the undertakings, to characterize the expansion of solar energy in Brazil within the Regulated Contracting Environment (ACR) and its repercussion in the state of RN. The results of the research showed that there has not yet been a consolidation of the growth of photovoltaic energy in the country, since this growth depends on technological innovations so that it becomes in fact competitive within the regulated market, thus increasing its participation within the matrix national energy sector.