Promoting Solar Water Heating in Brazil

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• Promoting Solar Water Heating in Brazil

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Current water heating technology in Brazil
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Current water heating technology in Brazil

• Flow-through type electric showers are the main
  form of water heating in the Brazilian
  residential market
• Installed in more than 67 of homes
• Accounts for 6 to 8 of the total electricity
  consumption
• Are responsible for 18 of national electricity
  demand during peak hours
• US 10 to install an electric shower heater in a
  home requires US 900 in electricity generation
  and distribution
• Electric showers represents 30 of home
  electricity bills

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Trends in water heating technologies

• The use of electric shower heaters is likely to
  increase under a business-as-usual scenario
• There is a clear relationship between rising
  income and energy consumption for heating among
  grid-connected Brazilian households
• The roughly 20 million people currently without
  electricity in the country will likely demand
  electric hot water systems when they eventually
  receive electricity
• 5 million new homes with electricity will demand
  6,000 MW just for water heating with electric
  showers

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Brazil 2,200 hours of insolation gt 15 trillion
MWhor 50,000 times Brazils electricity
consumption
Atlas Solarimétrico do Brasil FAE/UFPe
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SWH social, economic and environmental advantages

• Reduced demand in peak hours
• Reduced demand for investment in generation and
  distribution
• Improved quality of electricity distributed
• Produced by small and medium sized Brazilian
  companies
• Generate more jobs per energy unit
• Mitigate local air pollution and impacts of new
  dams
• Mitigate GHG emissions

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Jobs generated by different energy sources
Goldemberg et al Ethanol learning curve the
Brazilian experience
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SWH has not taken off in the Brazilian market
2003, www. iea.org
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• SWH installation 2004
• Brazil 350,000 m2
• Europe 1,000,000 m2
• China 12,000,000m2

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Barriers to SWH technology in Brazil

• High up-front system costs
• Constraints on the availability of financing
• Non-supportive building codes
• Lack of awareness of the technologys multiple
  advantages, characteristics, and aesthetic
  solutions on the part of architects, engineers,
  builders, and other professionals
• Failure to appropriately account for the social
  and environmental costs of conventional
  electrical generation

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VCs actions to boost SWH through municipalities

• Legislation requiring solar water heating in city
  of São Paulo based on the Barcelona experience
  (under discussion)
• Replication of the São Paulo experience to other
  municipalities through Solar Cities program (task
  for 2006)
• Business plan for an ESCO SWH based (currently
  under development and supported by REEEP)
• CDM project development for SWH activities led by
  ESCOs (currently under development in partnership
  with GMI and supported by BMF)

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VCs actions to boost SWH in low income housing

• SWH use in existing low income housing projects
  (action coordinated with CAIXA and DaSol ABRAVA)
• SWH up-front additional cost US 200
• Impact on mortgage payments US 5 / month
• Impact on familys electric bill (-) US 8 /
  month
• CERs can make a difference for large housing
  projects

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Thank you! Mark Lutes lutes_at_vitaecivilis.org.
br Rubens Harry Born rborn_at_vitaecivilis.o
rg.br VC Energy Climate Program Délcio
Rodrigues delciorodrigues_at_uol.com.br