Interview with Dr. Florian Wessendorf, managing director of Solar Promotion International, and Daniel Strowitzki, CEO of FMMi. The exhibition and conference Intersolar South America was first organized in 2012 as a small summit and soon developed into the largest solar exhibition on the South American continent. As usual in emerging markets, the market conditions in Brazil remain challenging. What does that mean for Intersolar?
Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy has postponed the reserve auction scheduled for July 29. It’s expected that it will involve more than 9GW of PV projects, making up 90% of the capacity registered for the auction. What does this mean for the Brazilian solar market?
Florian Wessendorf: My understanding is that Brazil is currently looking to reorganize and diversify its solar auctions. Minister Coelho Filho emphasized that the solar PV segment is critical to the Brazilian energy matrix and that new ways to encourage the sector must be found so that solar implementation doesn’t depend on auctions alone. This obviously means while auctions will continue, he’ll also be looking at new ways to boost solar capacity.
Will this postponement have any influence on your conference?
Daniel Strowitzki: Yes, in so far that it’ll be a reality check for the Brazilian solar market. What that means is we’ll discuss how different market segments develop, what the shortcomings and obstacles are and what the new options are for pushing solar energy.
Funding and taxes are still the main challenges for the solar industry in Brazil. Where could the solution lie in the not-too-distant future?
Florian Wessendorf: Minister Coelho Filho recently made a statement that the ministry is considering an energy policy that would give tax equality to renewable generation plus incentives to produce equipment domestically. The impact of both is that they will strengthen the Brazilian solar industry.
