Photovoltaic systems, costs, and electrical and electronic waste in the Legal Amazon: An evaluation of the Luz para Todos Program

Abstract

Despite its significance in regulating the global climate and maintaining biodiversity, the vastness of the Amazon geography imposes challenges for its residents, including limited access to electricity. The Luz para Todos Program proposes to universalize access to the public electricity service in remote regions of the Legal Amazon with renewable energy sources. From this perspective, the work assessed the ability of sector agents to meet the demand for universalization of the Luz para Todos Program, the economic aspects involved in the universalization process, and the waste management and reverse logistics of these systems. The findings indicate a demand for up to 15 million photovoltaic modules, batteries, and inverters with a maximum cost exceeding BRL 38 billion (USD 7.4 billion). Over 33 years, between 58 and 234 thousand tons of electronic waste would be generated. The program should change the panorama of installed photovoltaic capacity in the northern region of the country, thus placing considerable demand upon the solar industry to supply equipment for the installation of thousands of standalone systems across a vast territory, generating waste in places with inadequate infrastructure to manage them in an environmentally sensitive manner. The diversification of renewable energy sources could alleviate the burden on the service chain, curtail the waste generated by photovoltaic equipment, and stimulate the development of a service chain in regions gaining access to electricity services.