{"id":50052803,"date":"2022-04-13T15:22:05","date_gmt":"2022-04-13T14:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.dialogochino.net\/?p=52803"},"modified":"2023-05-15T18:37:19","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T17:37:19","slug":"52803-solar-energy-advances-in-the-amazon-but-why-so-slowly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/52803-solar-energy-advances-in-the-amazon-but-why-so-slowly\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar energy advances in the Amazon. But why so slowly?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the 80 residents of Vila Limeira, turning on a fan to cool off, drinking a glass of cold water or accessing the internet at home only became possible less than a year ago, with the installation of a solar energy system in their community in the Amazon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The riverside settlement, located on the M\u00e9dio Purus reserve in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, was founded in the 1950s, but until recently received only three hours of electricity per day. It was supplied by a diesel generator, which consumed 300 litres of fuel a month, costing 2,000 reais (US$428).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In June 2021, the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwf.org.br\/?79869\/conheca-a-primeira-comunidade-100-porcento-solar-do-sul-do-amazonas\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vila Limeira 100% Solar<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> project connected 35 buildings, including houses, a community centre, church and school to a small solar power plant, and made the community the first in this southern corner of Amazonas to have access to renewable energy 24 hours a day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe lived in a kind of isolation. And most of the communities around us still live isolated, because even to communicate, we need energy,\u201d said Napole\u00e3o Oliveira, president of the local residents\u2019 association.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_52825\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52825\" style=\"width: 471px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-52825\" src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Napoleao-and-Alessandra-residents-of-Vila-Limeira-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman and a man leaning out of a window and smiling\" width=\"471\" height=\"314\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-52825\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Napole\u0101o Oliveira (right) says solar energy has helped connect his community, and potentially with others too (image: WWF\/ Alessandra Mathyas)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vila Limeira is located in L\u00e1brea, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epe.gov.br\/sites-pt\/publicacoes-dados-abertos\/publicacoes\/PublicacoesArquivos\/publicacao-652\/EPE-NT-Planejamento%20SI-Ciclo_2021_r2.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">one of the 251 locations<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the country that are not connected to the National Interconnected System (SIN) \u2013 the network that distributes over 95% of the country\u2019s electricity \u2013 and therefore require independent power generation. With the exception of Fernando de Noronha, in Pernambuco, all of these locations are in the Legal Amazon, the region that comprises nine states in the Amazon basin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The energy from the various <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/stage.dialogochino.net\/en\/climate-energy\/51950-is-hydropower-making-a-comeback-in-the-amazon\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">large hydroelectric plants<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> built on Amazonian rivers in the past decade has not been used to supply the region, but instead distributed throughout the country. Extensive areas in the states of Amazonas, Par\u00e1, Acre, Rond\u00f4nia and Roraima lack the infrastructure to be connected to the national system. In these places, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epe.gov.br\/sites-pt\/publicacoes-dados-abertos\/publicacoes\/PublicacoesArquivos\/publicacao-652\/EPE-NT-Planejamento%20SI-Ciclo_2021_r2.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">over 90%<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the energy generated comes from diesel. \u201cThis energy is more expensive and polluting,\u201d says Alessandra Mathyas, conservation analyst at WWF Brazil, the organisation responsible for the project in Vila Limeira.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='block--pullout-stat block--pullout-stat--float cd-shortcode--factbox'>\n                <p class='block--pullout-stat__title'>99%<\/p>\n                <div class='block--pullout-stat__content'>\n                    <br \/>\nof the 1 million people in Brazil that have no electricity access live in the legal Amazon<br \/>\n\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Around 1 million people in Brazil live without any access to electricity, and 990,000 are in the Legal Amazon, according to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/energiaeambiente.org.br\/um-milhao-estao-sem-energia-eletrica-na-amazonia-20191125\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">estimates<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by the Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEMA), a Brazilian non-profit. The <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Luz para Todos<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Light for All) programme, launched in 2003, has managed to bring electricity to 14 million people nationwide, but remote communities in this region have remained, according to IEMA.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is why the most recent phase is now <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.br\/mme\/pt-br\/assuntos\/noticias\/mais-luz-para-a-amazonia-governo-federal-lanca-programa-para-levar-energia-solar-a-70-mil-familias\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">focused<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the Amazon. The federal government has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.br\/mme\/pt-br\/assuntos\/noticias\/programa-mais-luz-para-a-amazonia-autoriza-novas-obras-no-estado-do-amazonas\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hired<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a regional concessionaire to install solar panels in remote areas around the capital of Amazonas, Manaus, and six municipalities along the Purus River, such as L\u00e1brea, where the region\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/infoamazonia.org\/storymap\/sul-do-amazonas-e-nova-fronteira-do-desmatamento-da-amazonia\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">new frontier of deforestation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is advancing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The potential for solar energy generation in the Amazon is increasingly clear, although the expansion of its infrastructure is taking slow steps. \u201cThe policy is good. The implementation is something else. The numbers are still almost insignificant,\u201d said Ciro Campos, a consultant at the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), a Brazilian rights organisation. \u201cThe programme is not taking off as it should.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Solar a sustainable alternative for Amazon<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mathyas explains that \u201cthe best and cheapest\u201d option would be to invest in distributed solar energy generation in the Amazon.\u00a0 Distributed energy is that produced by the consumers themselves. This not only helps avoid greenhouse gas emissions, but also reduces the risks of deforestation, as the energy is generated close to the point of consumption and requires infrastructure with lower impacts. A complement to solar energy, especially for remote communities, Mathyas suggests, would be biomass energy generated from waste and leftovers such as acai seeds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the government\u2019s Ten Year Expansion Plan for Energy, launched in the beginning of April, a 363% growth in distributed generation is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/valor.globo.com\/brasil\/noticia\/2022\/04\/06\/plano-preve-expansao-da-matriz-energetica-em-30percent-ate-2031-com-r-325-trilhoes-em-investimentos.ghtml?utm_source=akna&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=07042022-ClimaInfo-Newsletter\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">predicted<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by 2031. In March, the country <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.br\/aneel\/pt-br\/assuntos\/noticias\/2022\/brasil-ultrapassa-marca-de-10-gw-em-micro-e-minigeracao-distribuida\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">surpassed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the mark of 10 gigawatts (GW) of installed distributed power \u2013 ten times more than just three years ago and 99% of which is solar energy. Of that figure, however, only 634,000 kilowatts, or 6%, are in the country\u2019s North Region, which comprises most of the states in the Legal Amazon, according to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/app.powerbi.com\/view?r=eyJrIjoiY2VmMmUwN2QtYWFiOS00ZDE3LWI3NDMtZDk0NGI4MGU2NTkxIiwidCI6IjQwZDZmOWI4LWVjYTctNDZhMi05MmQ0LWVhNGU5YzAxNzBlMSIsImMiOjR9\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">official data<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Investing in reducing the electricity bill has become a good investment. This is fundamental for the democratisation of solar energy<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This recent boom in the sector in Brazil may be related to the approval of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www2.camara.leg.br\/legin\/fed\/lei\/2022\/lei-14300-6-janeiro-2022-792217-norma-pl.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">legal framework<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for distributed generation. The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.congressonacional.leg.br\/materias\/vetos\/-\/veto\/detalhe\/14993\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">final text<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> still needs to be considered by congress, but the forecast is that subsidies for these types of projects will eventually suffer cuts, starting in 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis is also causing a race. It is the year of the \u2018final judgement\u2019 [for solar microgeneration],\u201d said Alexandre Henklain, coordinator of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/energiasroraima.com.br\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Renewable Energy Forum of Roraima<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the other hand, the approval of the legal framework has brought more legal security to the sector, according to Ricardo Baitelo, IEMA\u2019s project manager. This, combined with new lines of financing, tax incentives and the deep drought that made Brazil\u2019s electricity generation more expensive, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/climainfo.org.br\/2022\/04\/07\/governo-antecipa-fim-de-tarifa-eletrica-mais-cara\/?utm_source=akna&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=08042022-ClimaInfo-Newsletter\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">until recently<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, help explain the current moment for distributed solar generation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cInvesting in reducing the electricity bill has become a good investment. This is fundamental for the democratisation of solar energy,\u201d Baitelo said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the main tax incentives is aimed at the foreign market, since Brazil currently depends on imports for solar equipment, mainly from China. As of May, the import tax on solar panels <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/canalsolar.com.br\/governo-federal-reduz-imposto-de-importacao-para-equipamentos-de-energia-solar\/#:~:text=Com%20a%20medida%2C%20a%20al%C3%ADquota,de%2014%25%20para%200%25.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">will be cut<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in half \u2013 an incentive that should stimulate an already heated market. Between 2012 and 2021, the value of imports of solar panels <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/comexstat.mdic.gov.br\/pt\/geral\/55507\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">jumped<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from US$5.5 million to US$2.3 billion, almost all in purchases from China. Although at a much lower volume, the same trend <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/comexstat.mdic.gov.br\/pt\/geral\/55509\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">occurred<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the Legal Amazon, whose imports went from US$31,000 to US$13 million.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Solar energy of social importance<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among the new financing lines is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/valor.globo.com\/empresas\/noticia\/2022\/03\/10\/bndes-vai-financiar-energia-solar-direto-para-consumidores-na-regio-norte.ghtml\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a credit offer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from BNDES, the national development bank, for consumers in the North Region to install solar panels. The Amaz\u00f4nia Social pilot programme hopes to finance 1,600 installations over the next few years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The funding could boost projects in remote areas that are already spreading across the region. CEAPS, a socio-environmental NGO, has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/saudeealegria.org.br\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">brought solar energy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to over 100 homes, as well as schools, and community and health centres in the Tapaj\u00f3s reserve, in western Par\u00e1 state. Elsewhere, ISA <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XiEL23_Wtug\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">installed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> photovoltaic systems in 80 villages on the Xingu Indigenous Territory, Mato Grosso state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Foundation Amaz\u00f4nia Sustent\u00e1vel (FAS) coordinates the installation of photovoltaic systems in riverside communities in Amazonas state, which contribute to promoting tourism and fishing, and help supply electricity to small vegetable oil processing plants.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most recent system was installed ten months ago in the community of Santa Helena do Ingl\u00eas, in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/uc.socioambiental.org\/arp\/5036\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rio Negro reserve<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, near Manaus. There, solar energy ensures the lighting of streets, the community centre, a church and football pitch, as well as the houses of its 96 residents.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe goal is to reduce the use of fossil fuels from diesel generators [in the community] by 50%,\u201d explains Gabriela Sampaio, who coordinates the program for FAS.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, although solar energy initiatives in remote Amazon areas are not representative of national statistics, they have an importance that cannot be overlooked, argues Andr\u00e9 Fraz\u00e3o Teixeira, a PhD student in energy systems planning from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), S\u00e3o Paulo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFrom a social point of view, these projects are very important,\u201d Teixeira says, as they \u201ccombine economic development with sustainable development\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Solar plants gain in Amazonas<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Centralised energy generation, connected to the national system, has also advanced with the construction of a number of new solar plants in Brazil. From 2017 to February this year, the installed power almost quintupled to 4.7 GW, according to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.absolar.org.br\/mercado\/infografico\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Absolar<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the national solar sector association. This rapid advance, however, did not occur in the states of the Legal Amazon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amazonas is the state with the most significant lack of energy infrastructure: almost 40% of nationwide locations without connection to the national grid are in the state. But the recent approval of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.absolar.org.br\/noticia\/estado-do-amazonas-tera-lei-de-incentivo-as-fontes-renovaveis\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tax incentives<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, as well as the launch of the largest solar energy project in the state, may begin to change this reality.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We have an energy security problem, a political problem and also an economic problem for the advance of photovoltaic solar energy in the Amazon<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Amazonas Renewable Energy Cooperative (CooperSol) has inaugurated two of the three solar plants proposed for the capital, Manaus. The first began operating in 2021 and generates energy for 92 households, while the second, launched in February, has benefited 50 people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='cdo-shortcode--image'><\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_52829\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52829\" style=\"width: 2000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-52829 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/solar-poject-under-construction-Vila-Limeira-Amazon-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"An aerial view of a small-scale solar plant under construction\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-52829\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial view of a small-scale solar plant under construction in Vila Limeira (image: WWF\/ Alessandra Mathyas)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOur focus is people who live in flats, who wanted to join solar energy but had no alternative,\u201d said engineer Jamil Chaar, a Coopersol partner and director of Expertise Energia, an associate of the cooperative and builder of the plants.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Chaar, the plants are financed by the members themselves, as is the installation of the solar panels. Then, the energy generated is sent to the regional concessionary network, which converts the production into credits and transfers them to the members. They can reduce their electricity bills by up to 75% and recover their investments in up to five years, according to Chaar. His expectation is that the demand from associates will increase by 200% this year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFor the third plant [currently under construction], we are targeting business owners who consume 5,000 to 8,000 reais of energy (US$1,070\u20131,710) and have no way of producing,\u201d he explained.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Solar&#8217;s challenges in the Amazon<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if the solar energy systems are more democratic and flexible for communities such as those in the Amazon, they face great obstacles, according to Davi Gabriel Lopes, a researcher in photovoltaics at Unicamp. He cites the difficulty of maintaining the equipment, the high cost of storing the energy and the fossil fuel lobby \u2013 which is made clear in the national auctions that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/energiaeambiente.org.br\/termeletricas-a-gas-natural-foram-as-mais-contratadas-no-primeiro-leilao-de-reserva-de-capacidade-20211221\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">prioritise thermoelectric plants<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> over renewable sources.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe have an energy security problem, a political problem and also an economic problem for the advance of photovoltaic solar energy in the Amazon,\u201d says Lopes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Campos, from ISA, believes that the role of hydroelectric and thermoelectric plants is still relevant for the country \u2013 and for the Amazon. After all, today, solar energy accounts for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.absolar.org.br\/mercado\/infografico\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">only 2.5%<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the country\u2019s electricity matrix. \u201cThey would be a guarantee of supply and reserves of energy, something that solar and wind energy still don\u2019t have, due to high storage costs. If there is no sun or wind, there is no energy production,\u201d explains Campos.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But he agrees that the redirection of public incentives should occur as soon as possible. Currently, the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/stage.dialogochino.net\/en\/climate-energy\/48324-brazil-investing-in-coal-power-despite-global-shifts\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">coal lobby continues to attract political support<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to keep thermoelectric plants running. \u201cFossil energies should only enter auctions when there is no renewable alternative,\u201d says Campos. \u201cThe space for fossil fuels has to be limited and needs to start being discontinued by the end of this decade. Time is running out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NGOs and a federal programme bring solar energy to people with limited to no electricity access. The majority are in the Amazon, which lacks infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50000004,"featured_media":50052813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[757],"tags":[506,585,593],"hashtags":[],"country":[50000021],"class_list":["post-50052803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-amazon","tag-renewables","tag-solar","country-brazil"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Solar energy advances in the Amazon. But why so slowly? | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NGOs and a federal programme bring solar energy to people in the Amazon, which lacks the infrastructure, but rollout faces other challenges\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/52803-solar-energy-advances-in-the-amazon-but-why-so-slowly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Solar energy advances in the Amazon. But why so slowly?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NGOs and a federal programme bring solar energy to people with limited to no electricity access. The majority are in the Amazon, which lacks infrastructure.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/52803-solar-energy-advances-in-the-amazon-but-why-so-slowly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dialogue Earth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-13T14:22:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-15T17:37:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/solar-in-the-Amazon-outside-Manaus-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1325\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Soutar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Solar energy advances in the Amazon. But why so slowly?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"NGOs and a federal programme bring solar energy to people with limited to no electricity access. The majority are in the Amazon, which lacks infrastructure.\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/52803-solar-energy-advances-in-the-amazon-but-why-so-slowly\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/52803-solar-energy-advances-in-the-amazon-but-why-so-slowly\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Robert Soutar\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/999e65e486f4bbe1b4f2c5ffaed92bdd\"},\"headline\":\"Solar energy advances in the Amazon. 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