Context
In Brazil, heating of non-potable water is mainly carried out using electricity or natural gas. The widespread use of instantaneous water heaters gives rise to peak loads in electricity consumption. As a rule, the power stations needed to provide this capacity are powered by fossil fuels. Despite excellent insolation conditions, more than five kilowatt-hours per square metre of collector panels, and rising gas and electricity prices, solar energy is hardly used for water heating in Brazil. One of the pioneers is the federal state of São Paulo, where the use of solar thermal energy for heating water is required by law.
Objective
In selected regions of Brazil and in various industries and fields of application, solar thermal plants are used as a resource-friendly alternative for water heating.
Approach
The project supports the introduction of solar thermal installations for water heating in the context of existing promotion and funding programmes, e.g. in the social housing sector. National quality standards are being introduced. Technicians receive training in the planning, installation, servicing and maintenance of solar thermal installations. Development partnerships with the private sector are triggering innovative concepts and technologies.
The Brazilian Ministry of Environment (MMA) is being supported in the coordination of a working group on solar thermal energy. The working group, made up of representatives of various ministries and relevant stakeholders, is drawing up national implementation strategies and steering their implementation.
Target groups and partners of the project are the public sector, companies and associations.
Results achieved so far
The 1,000 Roofs Project has been completed. In view of its broad impact and sustainability, it is to serve as a reference for comparable projects.
In Rio de Janeiro the first 500 social housing units with solar thermal water heating have been created. The Mangueira demonstration project is being financed by the Brazilian development bank CAIXA.
On the basis of the experience gained, the Brazilian Government has prescribed the use of solar thermal energy in the national social housing plan. In the years ahead this will result in up to 800,000 out of two million planned housing units being equipped with solar thermal systems.
The Mangueira demonstration project is a model for Rio de Janeiro’s introduction of solar plants in a broad rehabilitation programme for disadvantaged districts, the Favelas.
The Brazilian Government's energy efficiency programme (PROCEL) has established a permanent working group. Together with the national quality and standards institute INMETRO, it is drawing up the technical standards and quality requirements for solar thermal systems. Thus, the 1,000 Roofs Project has helped to ensure high quality standards in the national social housing programme.
In 2010 a working group headed by the Brazilian Ministry of Environment (MMA) drew up a strategy for disseminating solar thermal energy as a contribution to the national climate policy. It is proposed to double the installed solar collector capacity to 15 million square metres by 2015.