Technical and Economic Aspects of Gridconnected Solar Photovoltaics in Brazil - Implementing Environmental and Resource Management - page 58

reinforced if it is assumed that the electricity costs might suffer an increase above
the country's inflation rate. In the case of a 30% of initial capital subsidy or tax re-
lief, as the effect is not so pronounced, only the pc-Si and a-Si solutions would be-
come feasible, but not the CIS one; for the a-Si configuration, the investment
would become close to lucrative in the areas of higher irradiation. Considering the
environmental aspects, it has been shown that most comparative studies and calcu-
lations (including the EPBT) lead to results favourable to the CIS technology, but
very closely followed by a-Si, which for example leads to bigger savings in CO 2
emissions. What seems clear is that among these three options pc-Si ranks the
worst. On the other side, the comparisons with respect to the Brazilian electricity
generation mix (in terms of CO 2 and LCA impact scores) confirm PV as prefer-
able, despite the fact that Brazil has a relatively clean electric grid.
6.4 General Conclusions
This study examined and discussed arguments about the extent to which the condi-
tions for further deployment of photovoltaic technology in Brazil could be unfa-
vourable. It is assumed that the main factors against these systems could derive
from their technical or economic non-feasibility or by a disadvantageous environ-
mental balance. It has been shown in the overview of Brazil's energy sector that
the governmental plan for the increase of energy supply in the next two decades is
primarily based on the use of oil, sugarcane, natural gas, and hydropower. The in-
crease in electricity consumption would give room for enlargement of all genera-
tion technologies, including renewables, especially wind and photovoltaics (both
with large potential in the country); but the government envisages a very modest
growth of wind power and for photovoltaics almost none. Fossil and nuclear tech-
nologies might be deemed preferable because of their maturity and lower specific
investment and generation costs, but this ignores that today's PV technology is
very advanced and progressing very rapidly, becoming an optimal solution for
covering peak demand in areas of hot climate with lower transmission and distri-
bution costs than using thermal power plants; and also disregards that the actual
costs (especially in the case of fossil fuels) are a result of the market failure of not
accounting for the real environmental costs. Regarding the environmental aspects
of photovoltaics, there are numerous scientific studies proving the benefits of
switching from fossil and nuclear electricity generation technologies to photovol-
taics (particularly grid-connected) considering a life-cycle perspective, even when
the benefits of solar module recycling in many cases are not considered. Also
worth taking into account are the numerous non-monetary values associated to a
renewable energy source like photovoltaics: e.g. improvement of the atmospheric
quality (thus human health), supply security, decentralization and diversification,
modularity, industry development, job creation, education on sustainability, and
green image.
The case study presented demonstrates the technical viability of supplying a
non-residential building with a rooftop photovoltaic system in one of the Brazilian