Solar energy, energy storage and electricity costs feature in the government programs of Flávio Bolsonaro, of the Liberal Party (PL), and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of the Workers’ Party (PT), the candidates in the second round of Brazil’s presidential election. Both propose expanding renewable energy and storage capacity, while identifying lower electricity costs as a priority for the energy sector.
The documents also link Brazil’s low-carbon electricity mix to industrial competitiveness, investment and the development of new industrial value chains, although their approaches and levels of detail differ.
Lower energy costs
Both candidates identify lower energy costs as an objective of their energy policies. Bolsonaro’s program outlines measures directly targeting electricity bills, including streamlining charges and cross-subsidies, gradually reducing the Energy Development Account (CDE) and incentives for energy sources, and cutting taxes on electricity and fuels. The proposal calls for maintaining the social electricity tariff and regulating different energy sources with the lowest final cost to consumers as a benchmark.
Lula’s program also identifies lower electricity costs as a priority for the next government, but links the issue to fair tariffs and the financial sustainability of the electricity sector. The document calls for discussions on ways to reduce energy costs for households and businesses.
The program also refers to Petrobras’ new pricing policy and measures to mitigate fuel and gas price volatility. It highlights the Luz do Povo program, which expanded access to free electricity for households registered in Brazil’s Unified Registry for Social Programs (Cadastro Único) with monthly consumption of up to 80 kWh.
Renewables and energy storage
Both candidates support continued renewable energy deployment and increased storage capacity in the electricity system.
Bolsonaro’s program aims to position Brazil among the world’s leading destinations for energy transition investment by 2030, with biofuels, solar, wind and green hydrogen as key drivers. The document also proposes implementing an energy storage program featuring large-scale batteries and other technologies.
The proposal links storage deployment to grid expansion and the integration of additional renewable capacity, identifying storage as a means of improving energy security and reducing costs.
Lula’s program, meanwhile, calls for increasing the share of renewable energy, expanding investment in storage and power system flexibility, and accelerating the gradual replacement of fossil fuels with biofuels and low-carbon fuels, including hydrogen derivatives.
The document also proposes opening up a new area of investment in batteries to improve electricity supply and system reliability. Storage is primarily presented as a means of increasing system flexibility and resilience as renewable penetration rises.
Critical minerals
Bolsonaro’s program also identifies batteries as a driver of demand for critical minerals, which feature in both candidates’ proposals.
His program lists lithium, niobium, graphite, copper, nickel, uranium and rare earth elements as resources relevant to semiconductors, batteries, wind turbines, electric vehicles, defense and artificial intelligence. The proposal seeks to combine these resources with access to clean energy to develop domestic industrial value chains.
“Instead of simply exporting raw minerals and buying back finished products, we will add value in Brazil,” the program states.
The strategy calls for attracting capital and technology, establishing a stable regulatory framework, streamlining permitting, encouraging vertical integration, and strengthening governance and transparency. It also specifies that the state should act as a regulator and coordinator rather than a business operator.
Lula’s program also proposes a dedicated policy for critical minerals and rare earth elements, focusing on developing industrial value chains, distinguishing between technological applications, and encouraging domestic processing and value addition. The stated objective is to move beyond exports of strategic raw materials and increase Brazil’s participation in global value chains.
Data centers
Both programs identify data centers as an opportunity linked to Brazil’s renewable energy resources, but set out different conditions and priorities for developing the sector.
Bolsonaro’s program identifies energy costs as a key factor in attracting data center investment. Lower taxes on electricity and fuels are presented as measures to improve Brazil’s competitiveness and establish the country as a “global hub for sustainable data centers,” capitalizing on its renewable electricity mix.
Lula’s program proposes developing a domestic digital technology ecosystem, including the data center supply chain and cloud services. According to the document, expansion should be accompanied by environmental and social safeguards, including energy efficiency and the use of 100% renewable energy, as well as commitments to local content and computing capacity for the domestic market.
Northeast Brazil
Both candidates propose attracting energy-intensive industries and electricity consumers, including data centers, to northeastern Brazil, which accounts for a large share of the country’s utility-scale wind and solar generation.
“The Northeast is not just a past that endured; it is a future that is beginning,” Bolsonaro’s program states. “It has more than enough sun and wind to become the country’s clean energy capital, and it is this abundant, competitive energy that will attract data centers and the new technology industry. It has rare earth elements, raw materials without which the 21st-century economy cannot exist.”
Lula’s program states: “We will transform the region into a hub for attracting energy-intensive industrial plants seeking predictable renewable energy to produce with low emissions: green steelmaking, fertilizers, chemicals, cement, aluminum, critical mineral processing, low-carbon hydrogen and its derivatives.”
Energy and agribusiness
Both candidates also address the energy needs and potential of rural consumers and agribusiness.
Bolsonaro’s program proposes turning the agricultural sector into a source of clean energy by implementing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) targets from 2027 and linking Brazil’s agricultural financing program, Plano Safra, to incentives for biomass production.
Lula’s program calls for universal access to electricity in rural areas, prioritizing renewable sources such as solar and wind. It also encourages the use of agricultural processing byproducts to produce bioenergy and biogas.
Low-carbon hydrogen
Hydrogen features in both programs as part of their energy transition strategies, although the level of detail differs.
Bolsonaro’s program mentions green hydrogen once, identifying it alongside biofuels, solar and wind as a driver of the country’s ambition to become a leading destination for energy transition investment by 2030.
Lula devotes more attention to low-carbon hydrogen, identifying it as part of the country’s reindustrialization strategy. His program calls for continued development of the sector’s legal framework and efforts to attract energy-intensive industrial facilities to northeastern Brazil for the production of low-carbon hydrogen and its derivatives.
While both programs recognize renewable energy as an asset for the energy transition and a means of attracting industrial investment, their proposed approaches and levels of detail differ.
The government programs of both candidates are available on the website of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
The post Brazil’s presidential election: Lula and Bolsonaro’s proposals for solar energy appeared first on pv magazine Global.