Impactos econômicos da ampliação do uso de energia solar residencial em Minas Gerais

Abstract

The current environmental crisis and the increasing of power demand have had encouraged the development of alternative sources, such as the solar energy. In Brazil, more specifically in Minas Gerais, there is an enormous solar energy exploitation potential, both to generate photovoltaic energy and water heating. Nevertheless, the solar energy is still underused. According to the use of this renewable energy source, the main goal of this dissertation is to analyze the economic impacts of the broadening of solar energy use by the mineiras families, through the computable general equilibrium (CGE) model named IMAGEM-MG. In this research, the distributive impacts of the use of renewable energy for self-consumption were analyzed, unlike previous studies that used this methodology to analyze energy issues. A set of 10 representative families were investigated, divided by yield classes, which made it possible to compare the consumption pattern changes between different classes due to the adoption of solar energy. A technical and economic feasibility analysis was carried out to ascertain the conditions of the adoption of solar energy, throughout two different scenarios: the adoption of photovoltaic panels to the distributed generation of electricity and the adoption of water heating residential system. The results show that the adoption of photovoltaic panels causes sectorial impacts distinct from the adoption of solar heaters due to the composition of the families consumption by each technology. Moreover, the gains in terms of use enhancement, GDP and observed investments could be strengthened by energetic policies which would stimulate the usefulness of residential solar energy.