According to data from the Brazilian Association of Heating — ABRAVA in Portuguese [9], there was an increase in the sales of solar collectors in 2001 reaching 480,000 m2 _ way above the average of previous years. However, sales fell down in the following years to an average 350,000 m2 per year. Whereas countries like Austria and Greece attend up to 12% and 22% of their population respectively [10], with solar thermal energy, Brazil’s index doesn’t even reach 1%.

In order to understand better the current situation, it is important to take into consideration the high initial cost of installing solar systems in comparison to the much lower cost of acquiring an electric shower device in addition to how easy the latter is to install. These three factors represent a serious barrier to the growth of the solar energy market in Brazil.

As an example: a low-cost solar system, sold over the Internet [11] and made of PVC with only two solar collectors and a storage unit of 200 liters, has a price tag of about €400 excluding installation costs. The price tag of another equipment made of metals, subsequently offering better results, can reach double this value. In Brazil, one can easily buy an instantaneous electric shower device of 5,400 Watts for about €10 [12] with no extra installation cost as it is a quick and easy “Do It Yourself — DIY” job.

Another current barrier, is the absence, in some big Brazilian cities, of specialized companies or professionals to install the solar equipments as well as to maintain them.

The partial results of an on-going nationwide study, coordinated by PROCEL in partnership with Papal Catholic University-Minas Gerais (PUC-MG in Portuguese), point out the existence of a €40,000 solar water heating system for a gym’s swimming pool in a residential area of Rio de Janeiro which started causing problems ever since it was installed back in 2006. The company it was bought from still hasn’t been able to offer a practical solution for it to work properly and thus the use of the system was switched to a system using natural gas.

These examples indicate the delay of solar heating systems in penetrating the Brazilian market. Considering that 81.5% of all Brazilian households heat water to take showers, 90.8% of the time it is using electric energy while only 7.3% of the time it is using natural gas [4].

In 2000, as one of its main lines of action and within its solar energy heating dissemination strategy, PROCEL launched its awarding process of the PROCEL Energy Saving Seal (Figure 5) to solar collectors and thermal tanks in association with the National Institute of Norms, Measurements and Industrial Quality — INMETRO in Portuguese [13].

Fig. 5. PROCEL Seal

The purpose of PROCEL Seal is to stimulate the national production of more efficient equipments and domestic appliances giving consumers information and guidelines in order to buy more energy efficient equipments thus contributing towards technological development and the reduction of the environmental impact.

The PROCEL Seal is annually awarded to equipments with the most efficient indexes of energy efficiency, in its respective category, usually characterized with an “A” at the top of the National Energy Conservation Label — ENCE in Portuguese (Figure 6). Please note that for a couple of specific product categories, further technical and qualitative features are required of the equipments, to be checked and considered towards the awarding of the PROCEL Seal. (Example: the proven electrical safety of the equipment).

In order to be awarded the PROCEL Seal, the product is submitted to various technical tests run by impartial and competent labs indicated by PROCEL. The adhesion of the producing companies for labelling, to this day, is volunteered.

While at its beginning, the program counted only two participating product manufacturers, in 2007, 160 types of solar collectors were listed from 29 different manufacturers [13], representing more than 50% marketshare.

The PROCEL Seal has been awarded to solar collectors since 2000 thus contributing to the significant improvement of the performance of those currently available on the market.

Figure 7 shows the evolution of the average monthly production of specific energy from solar collectors for shower water heating between 2000 and 2007, for all collectors labelled by the INMETRO as well as those awarded the PROCEL Seal.

Procel Seal Average ENCE

Fig. 7. Evolution of the average monthly production of specific energy from solar collectors

(kWh/month per m2)

Whilst the PROCEL Seal has been awarded to the thermal tanks of solar heating systems since 2002, these equipments have already been receiving the ENCE label since 2001. Until 2003 there were no difference in the criteria required for the awarding of the PROCEL Seal and the ENCE label. However, from that year onwards, distinctive indexes were established in relation to the specific loss of monthly energy for both of them, to be consistent with the PROCEL Seals indexes which are constantly upgraded.

Figure 8 shows the evolution of the specific loss of energy’s monthly average of 200 liters thermal tanks labelled between 2001 and 2007. The curve points out to the significant improvement of these equipments’ performance and available on the market over the years.

Fig. 8. Evolution of the specific loss of energy’s monthly average in thermal tanks

(kWh/month/liter)

In 2000, the university PUC-Minas Gerais and PROCEL, in partnership with the City Council of Contagem (Minas Gerais), took part in a project to install 100 solar water heating systems with a capacity of 200 liters each. This project was the largest of its kind in terms of the ratio scale/number of households, in Brazil. It also provided valuable data which allowed for the addition of solar heating systems on the list of electric energy utilities’energy efficiency projects thus meeting the National Agency of Electric Energy’s (ANEEL in Portuguese) legal requirements_ a compulsory investment of 0.5% of these companies’net income.

The Contagem’s Project corroborated an average reduction in electric energy consumption of up to 40%, depending on the type of heating systems installed, proportionate to savings of up to 60% in utility bills [14]. This project has demonstrated the financial viability of the use of solar heating systems for the lower-income population. Based on these results, the Electric Energy Distribution Utility of Minas Gerais (CEMIG in Portuguese) stimulated a number of this kind of projects which turned the state of Minas Gerais pioneer in the use of solar systems nationwide.

In 2005, PROCEL, in the context of PEE, acquired equipments to expand the technical capacity of the University PUC-MG’s Solar Laboratory which is responsible for testing solar collectors towards the ENCE and the PROCEL Seal labelling process. This technical expansion, thanks in particular to a solar simulator imported from Germany, allows for most of the tests to be ran indoors by the laboratory thus speeding up the overall process_ from a month to less that a week_ reducing the impact of the weather condition. This equipment is the first of its kind in the whole of Latin America out of 5 in existence in the whole world and it cost USD 500,000, donated by GEF (Figure 9).

In the same way, the Laboratory at the Technology Research Institute in Sao Paulo (IPT in Portuguese) benefited from PROCEL’s help in acquiring new equipments for tests on thermal tanks with the same positive effects.

There are various ongoing studies being carried out to demand the labelling of all solar collectors and thermal tanks with ENCE. However, to become compulsory, this process needs to clarify policies as well as to provide the minimum energy efficiency indexes to be indicated as established by the law #10.295 of 2001 [15], also known as “Energy Efficiency Law”. These initiatives will empower the sector to generate new mechanisms to further advance the quality of solar heating equipments.

In this context, the carrying out by PROCEL, in partnership with PUC-MG, of the studies mentioned earlier represent a new step since they are destined for the accurate assessment of solar heating systems’ installations found in Brazil today be it in: the residential sector (showers and swimming pools), the service sector (hotels, gyms and schools) or the industrial sector. Involving about 60 professionals such as university professors, researchers, consultants and scholarship holders from various large Brazilian cities such as Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Seguro, Brasilia, Campinas, the nationwide project’s main objective is to lay the strategic plan towards further technical development and dissemination of the solar energy in Brazil.

2. Conclusion

As the studies carried out by Eletrobras/PROCEL (PPH) have shown, the use of electricity is predominant for water heating amongst Brazilian households due to the overwhelming presence of electric showers as the device most commonly used for this purpose. The immediate consequence of this fact is reflected in the inflated demand during the electric system’s peak-hour.

It has been asserted that the consumption of electric energy for water heating in Brazil is overall considerably high and historical data is pointing out at an ongoing growth trend should no provision, whether political or technical, be made rapidly for this sector.

Thus, the use of solar energy for water heating in Brazil has huge growth potential since less than 1% of the population currently makes use of this type of energy. Taking these facts into consideration and notwithstanding the favorable climate in the country, with approximately 2,200 hours sunshine per year [10], one can assert that the most recommended alternative for this end use is to substitute the electric shower with alternative sources of energy such as solar energy. In this context, PROCEL has been achieving a series of carefully planned and controlled activities towards the dissemination and the stimulation in the use of solar heating systems in Brazil. These activites can count on the collaboration of significant business partners such as INMETRO, PUC — MG, IPT, ABRAVA as well as the Manufacturers’Association. These partnerships are essential to

reach the results sat through our objectives. One of PROCEL s main lines of action has been the structuring of the testing laboratories supporting ENCE and the PROCEL Seal’s labelling process.

Since the use of solar heating systems is not recommended in all regions nor all conditions, there are constant efforts made by manufacturers, laboratories and PROCEL itself not only to contribute to the overall improvement in the efficient consumption of electric energy, but also of water and electric safety in water heating electric equipments. Indeed, these equipments were amongst the first to be considered for labelling with ENCE. Despite all of these combined effortst and the results shown by the success of the projects already running, there is still a long way to go in order to encourage nationwide the expansion of the use of this water heating technology: one of the most important step is to add it in the financing program of popular housing.

Water heating solar equipments are currently being taken into consideration by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) to be added to the existing energy efficiency law. This should be implemented as of the year 2009 which will represent a true landmark in the sector’s advances.

References

[1] PROGRAMA NACIONAL DE CONSERVACAO DE ENERGIA ELETRICA-PROCEL. Available at <http://www. eletrobras. com/procel.>.

[2] CENTRAIS ELETRICAS BRASILEIRAS-ELETROBRAS. Available at <http://www. eletrobras. com>.

[3] PROGRAMA NACIONAL DE CONSERVACAO DE ENERGIA ELETRICA. “Relatorio de Avaliagao de Resultados: Ano 2006”. Rio de Janeiro: Eletrobras, 2007. Available at: <http://www. procelinfo. com. br>. Accessed on: 15th of Dec. 2007.

[4] PROGRAMA NACIONAL DE CONSERVACAO DE ENERGIA ELETRICA. “Avaliagao do Mercado de Eficiencia Energetica no Brasil: Pesquisa de Posse de Equipamentos e Habitos de Uso da Classe Residencial no Ano Base 2005”. Available at: <http://www. procelinfo. com. br>. Accessed on: 15th of Sept. 2007.

[5] WORLD BANK. Available at <http://www. worldbank. org>. Project ID P039200. Accessed on: 17th of Sept. 2007.

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[7] EUROPEAN COMMISSION. “Market Study on Development of the Thermal Solar Market in Brazil”. Bruxelas: European Communities, 1999.

[8] OPERADOR NACIONAL DO SISTEMA ELETRICO (ONS). “Curva de Carga”. Available at: <http://www. ons. org. br>. Accessed on: 17th of Sept. 2007.

[9] FARIA, C. ABRAVA. “Aquecimento Solar”. Rio de Janeiro: Palestra na Camara de Vereadores do Rio de Janeiro, December 2006.

[10] RODRIGUES, D.; MATAJS, R. “Um banho de sol para o Brasil: o que os aquecedores solares podem fazer para o meio ambiente e a sociedade”. Sao Paulo: Vitae Civilis, 2005.

[11] LOJAS AMERICANAS. Available at: <http://www. americanas. com. br>. Accessed on: 24th of Oct. 2008.

[12] CASA & VIDEO. Available at: <http://www. casaevideo. com. br>. Accessed on: 24th of Oct. 2008.

[13] INMETRO. “Tabelas de Consumo de Energia Eletrica”. Available at: <http://www. inmetro. gov. br >. Accessed on: 17th of Sept. 2007.

[14] PEREIRA, E. “Aquecimento Solar de Agua para fins sanitarios”. Rio de Janeiro: Palestra na Camara de Vereadores do Rio de Janeiro, December 2006.

[15] AGENCIA NACIONAL DE ENERGIA ELETRICA-ANEEL. Available at <http://www. aneel. gov. br>. Accessed on: 17th of Sept. 2007.