New possibilities in the Brazilian solar energy market

Recently Senator Ataídes Oliveira proposed the bill in order to exempt the import tax on all equipment and components of solar energy. That bill was already approved in the Federal Senate and is under consideration in the Chamber of Deputies. If this bill will pass, that means that the prices for Photovoltaic (PV) systems will reduce by 10% and solar energy will spread in Brazil.

Currently, there are some taxes already exempted in Brazil, as State VAT, Import Tax,  Excise Tax (IPI) that acheive 0%  for PV modules, but not for other components of PV system. For exemple, Excise tax for inverters is about 15% and import tax vary till 25%. The introduction of this law could partially reduce the barrier with the importation of other PV sistem components and reduce the prices. However, this project of low gives the exemptions on taxes only if there is no similar product in Brazil, that could stimulate the national production.

It's been a while, while I'm hearing at the conferences about the chicken and egg problem: there is no market, thus it's not rentable to build a factory in Brazil; in other hand, if it would be a factory, the special lines of financement will be available and demand would increase. Many European and Chinese companies are negotiating currently to build a PV modules factories in Brazil, but for the moment only one company that montage the solar panels in Brazil exists with the prices far higher than the imported panels (Technometal).