Geographic information systems and economic methods for the evaluation of solar farms sites: Case study in northeast of Brazil

Notably in recent years, many countries have established public policies to encourage and facilitate the generation of electricity using energy from renewable resources. Specifically for solar energy, these public policies aim to decrease negative impacts in the environment, reduce the dependency in fossil fuel and increase the internal production of energy. Brazil presents a predominantly renewable energy matrix. However, although the country presents an energy matrix with a renewable character, it is observed that energy generation based on solar concentration power (CSP) is still inexpressive. In a way to contribute with the insertion of thermoelectric solar energy in the country, this paper presents a different methodology for the evaluation of technical, environmental and economic potential of CSP projects in large scale, based on the cost of energy generation. The study was developed for Pernambuco, located in Northeastern Region of Brazil, and it considered the implementation of a parabolic trough solar power plant operating exclusively in solar mode without thermal stores. The analyzes have shown that many areas present a great installation potential, especially in the micro regions of Pajeú, Sertão do Moxotó, and Salgueiro, where there are areas with costs in the range of US$ 112.76/MWh to 121.14/MWh.