Establishing Brazil’s Solar PV Industry: What Happened to the Strategy Proposed to Develop Brazil’s Solar Industry?

Brazil is one of just six countries in the world to add more than 10 GW of installed capacity in a single year. This makes the country one of the world’s largest solar photovoltaic (PV) markets.

The foundations for this development were laid as early as the 1970s and 1980s, when Brazil was already home to pioneering research and development initiatives at universities and within industry. However, it was in 2010 that Brazil’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT, now MCTI), through the Center for Strategic Studies and Management (CGEE), published a landmark policy proposal entitled Solar Photovoltaic Energy in Brazil: Inputs for Decision-Making (CGEE, 2010). The document presented a comprehensive set of recommendations for developing a domestic solar PV industry.

More than a decade later, we are asking why this plan never took off and whether Brazil can still establish its own solar PV industry.

These questions are at the heart of the Guidelines for Establishing Brazil’s Solar PV Industry through Science, Technology and Innovation: Recommendations for a New National Strategy, developed by Revolusolar in partnership with the International Energy Initiative – IEI Brasil, with support from the Institute for Climate and Society (iCS).

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In 2010, Brazil Already Had an Ambitious Plan

To understand the current landscape, we need to go back to 2010 and what we call the Big Plan. The CGEE study was developed with input from and consultations with approximately 200 representatives from different sectors.

The document set out a comprehensive strategy to develop Brazil’s solar PV market and industry, structured around four main priorities:

1. Investing in Research and Technological Innovation

Develop domestic knowledge and technological capabilities so that Brazil would not remain merely a consumer of technologies produced in other countries.

2. Creating Consumer Demand

Stimulate demand for solar PV energy and establish the conditions needed for market expansion.

3. Establishing Solar Cell and Photovoltaic Module Manufacturing

Build domestic manufacturing capacity for key components of photovoltaic systems.

4. Establishing Solar-Grade and Electronic-Grade Silicon Industries

Develop one of the most technologically significant links in the supply chain: the production of high-purity silicon used in photovoltaic applications and microelectronics.

The vision was a long-term one. The goal was not simply to create a market for imported products, but to establish a domestic supply chain capable of generating socioeconomic benefits within Brazil itself.

What Happened to This Plan?

Of the four main proposals presented in 2010, the development of consumer demand was the one that effectively moved forward. The market grew, but the domestic industry did not develop on the same scale.

This gap helps explain a defining feature of Brazil’s solar sector today: the country has enormous demand for solar energy, yet its supply chain remains heavily dependent on imports.

When the Big Plan Almost Took Off

To revisit the Big Plan, our new Guidelines for Establishing Brazil’s Solar PV Industry are accompanied by three supporting texts: When Brazil Had an Ambitious Plan; When the Big Plan Almost Took Off; and Reviving the Big Plan Is Still Possible.

Between 2010 and 2014, a series of initiatives and collaborative efforts demonstrated that Brazil had the potential to build a more strategically positioned photovoltaic industry. One of the key issues in this discussion is silicon.

According to the study, Brazil did not have, and still does not have, domestic industrial-scale production of the type of silicon used to manufacture photovoltaic cells. Despite having one of the world’s largest reserves of high-quality quartz, a mineral used to produce metallurgical-grade silicon, Brazil continues to import high-purity silicon, including solar-grade and electronic-grade silicon.

In other words, Brazil has the natural resources, but has yet to develop the technology and industrial capacity needed to turn them into higher-value products.

Why Does a Domestic Solar Industry Matter?

The expansion of solar energy creates employment opportunities at different stages of the value chain. According to estimates presented in the study, adding 39.8 GW of solar PV capacity between 2025 and 2034 could generate more than 600,000 direct and indirect jobs in project development, installation, operation and maintenance.

There are further opportunities. If the entire manufacturing supply chain for solar modules were established in Brazil, with an average annual addition of 3.98 GW of installed capacity, the study estimates that this could create more than 2,000 highly skilled direct manufacturing jobs, alongside an estimated investment of approximately US$2 billion.

These figures help illustrate the difference between simply importing equipment to meet growing market demand and building domestic manufacturing capacity.

What Does the New Guide Propose?

This is where the study Establishing Brazil’s Solar PV Industry through Science, Technology and Innovation: Recommendations for a New National Strategy comes in.

Produced by Revolusolar and the International Energy Initiative – IEI Brasil, the Guide starts from a central premise: Brazil is at a critical juncture in the development of a more structured domestic solar supply chain.

The goal is not simply to reproduce the 2010 plan, but to revisit it, understand its successes and limitations, incorporate the changes that have taken place since then, and develop a new national strategy.

The Guide is accompanied by three supporting texts that explore different stages of this journey:

Supporting Text No. 1: When Brazil Had an Ambitious Plan (2010)

Revisits the strategy developed in 2010 and its four main proposals.

Supporting Text No. 2: When the Big Plan Almost Took Off (2010–2014)

Examines the initiatives undertaken between 2010 and 2014 and the conditions that created an opportunity for Brazil to play a more strategic role in the solar industry.

Supporting Text No. 3: Reviving the Big Plan Is Still Possible

Explores the possibilities for reviving this agenda in light of the current solar energy landscape, industrial development and the energy transition.

Access the Guide and all three supporting texts today.

A Discussion That Goes Beyond Solar Energy

For Revolusolar, establishing a solar industry cannot be considered in isolation from the broader goal of achieving a just energy transition. The energy transition involves profound changes in the way we produce, distribute and consume energy.

These changes are closely linked to the social, environmental and economic inequalities that already exist in Brazilian society. A just energy transition must therefore be developed in coordination with other structural policies aimed at economic development and reducing inequality.

The landscape in 2026 is different from that of 2010. The global solar industry has changed, and this is precisely why looking back can help Brazil develop a strategy better suited to today's realities, with short, medium and long term goals.

This article presents just one part of the broader discussion. The Guidelines for Establishing Brazil’s Solar PV Industry through Science, Technology and Innovation bring together the full analysis and recommendations for a new national strategy, accompanied by three supporting texts.

Whether you work in energy, public policy, industry, science and technology, sustainability, research or economic development or simply want to better understand the choices Brazil faces as solar energy continues to expand, this material is a valuable starting point.

Access the Guidelines and all three supporting texts free of charge on the Revolusolar website.

About the Study

Guidelines: Establishing Brazil’s Solar PV Industry through Science, Technology and Innovation – Recommendations for a New National Strategy

Produced by: Revolusolar + International Energy Initiative – IEI Brasil

Supported by: Institute for Climate and Society (iCS)

Coordination: Igor Felix de Souza Mello - Revolusolar

Research and Writing: Rodolfo D. M. Gomes - IEI Brasil; Igor Felix de Souza Mello - Revolusolar

Interviews: Rodolfo D. M. Gomes - IEI Brasil

Review: Eduardo Avila - Revolusolar

Publication Year: 2026.