太陽光で貧困層の電気代削減、スラムの発電プロジェクト　ブラジル

【リオデジャネイロＡＦＰ＝時事】息をのむほど美しい眺めで有名なブラジル・リオデジャネイロのコパカバーナビーチ。浜辺を望む丘には、ファベーラ（スラム街）が広がる。その中に、熱帯の日差しを受けてきらめく屋根が一つある。国内初の「ファベーラ太陽光発電プロジェクト」に参加している建物の一つだ。（写真はブラジル・リオデジャネイロ南部バビロニア地区のファベーラ＜スラム街＞で、ホステルの屋上に敷き詰められた太陽光発電パネル）
　太陽光パネルが設置されているのは、バビロニア地区のファベーラにある地域組合の建物だ。たっぷりと降り注ぐ日光を利用して再生可能なエネルギー源を増やし、貧しい人々が暮らすこの地区の電気料金を下げようとする試みだ。
　現在は太陽光パネル６０枚から直接、電力網に電気が供給されている。それと引き換えに電力会社は、組合に参加する３４世帯に電気料金の割引を実施している。
　さらに地元のホテルを含む民間企業の屋上にも、４４枚の太陽光パネルが設置されている。これらの企業も組合の一員として割引を受けている。
　組合の代表を務めるステファノ・モッタ氏は「ファベーラでは、電気料金を払うか、食品を買うか、どちらかしか選べないといったことがあまりにも多い」と話す。「電気代への不満を訴える住民が増えており、１か月で６００レアル（約１万６０００円）以上になる人もいる」
　このプロジェクトは昨年６月、ファベーラの住民が電気代の支払いに苦慮する危機的状況の中、各コミュニティーのリーダーと非営利組織によって立ち上げられた。
　ブラジル電力エネルギー庁（ＡＮＥＥＬ）によると、国内の一般家庭の平均的な電気代は、昨年の７％増に続き、今年も２１％増となる見通しだ。
　昨年、主要な水力発電施設のある二つの地域は、過去約１世紀で最悪の干ばつに見舞われた。当局はこれを補うため、よりコストのかかる火力発電所を緊急に稼働させる措置を取った。

■「盗電」防止にも
　ファベーラでは、公共の街灯に電線をつないで自宅に電気を引き込む「盗電」が広く行われている。違法な上、危険な行為だ。太陽光発電はこれを避ける代替手段にもなる。
　また盗電は、利用者全体の電気料金が上がる一因にもなっていると電力会社は指摘する。推計によると、盗電による損失額は年間１５億レアル（約４００億円）にも上る。
　ブラジルの太陽光による発電量は現在、国内電力消費量の１．８％にとどまっている。
　だが、バビロニアのような貧困地区での住宅太陽光発電は「急速に拡大」しており、昨年は発電容量が２９．３％増加したと、リオデジャネイロ州立大学のカルロス・アパレシド教授（電気工学）は語る。
　「貧困層にとって、太陽光発電は高額な電気代に代わる持続可能な選択肢だ」とアパレシド教授は述べている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/05/30-14:26）

In a hillside slum with breathtaking views of Rio de Janeiro's famed Copacabana beach, a rooftop covered in photovoltaic panels glitters in the tropical sun -- one of many in Brazil's first favela solar energy project.
The solar panels on the roof of a community organization in the Babilonia favela take one thing the impoverished neighborhood has in abundance -- sunshine -- and use it to lower electricity bills while expanding renewable power sources.
The 60 panels feed electricity directly to the grid. In return, the utility company gives 34 families participating in the cooperative a much-needed discount on their bills.
Another 44 panels are installed atop private businesses, including a local hostel, which also receive discounts as part of the co-op.
People in the favelas all too often have to decide between paying their electricity bills and buying food, says the head of the co-op, Stefano Motta.
More and more residents are coming to us with complaints about their light bills -- sometimes 600 reais ($125) a month or more.
We're using that to raise awareness about the importance of solar energy for the economy and the environment, says the 45-year-old Italian, who moved to Rio a decade ago and now lives in Chapeu Mangueira -- the favela next to Babilonia, which also takes part in the co-op.
The project was launched last June by community leaders and a non-profit organization called Revolusolar.
It comes at a critical moment for favela residents struggling to pay their bills. The average electricity price for residential customers in Brazil is expected to increase by 21 percent this year, after rising seven percent last year, according to the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL).
Marcia Campos, a 51-year-old social worker who lives in Babilonia, says that before joining the solar co-op she was struggling to pay her electricity bill, which had risen to nearly 500 reais a month -- around half the Brazilian monthly minimum wage.
Now, my (bill) is around 260 reais a month, sometimes as low as 180 in especially sunny months, she told AFP.
- Electricity crunch -
Last year, two key hydroelectricity producing regions in Brazil were hit by their worst drought in nearly a century, shrinking the rivers that feed dams producing nearly 60 percent of the country's electricity supply.
That sent authorities scrambling to fire up costlier thermal power plants to compensate.
But clean-energy proponents say renewable power sources are a better option for the economy and the environment.
In the favelas, solar is also an alternative to dangerous, clandestine electricity connections known as gatos, which residents use to illegally wire their homes into the grid by tapping public street lamps.
Electric utilities estimate the common practice costs 1.5 billion reais a year, and say it contributes to higher prices for everyone else.
- Spreading fast -
Brazil currently gets just 1.8 percent of its energy consumption from solar.
But residential solar-energy production from projects like the one in Babilonia is growing very fast, says Carlos Aparecido, a professor of electrical engineering at Rio de Janeiro State University.
Solar power generated an average of 878 megawatts in Brazil in 2021, up 29.3 percent from 2020, according to the electricity grid operator, the National Interconnected System (SIN).
Solar is becoming more popular in Rio's favelas, home to nearly 1.4 million of the city's 6.8 million people.
For the poor, it's a sustainable alternative to paying high electricity bills, says Aparecido.
In Vidigal, another iconic favela with breathtaking views of Rio's coastline, a community organization called Ser Alzira launched a solar panel project in December, using a co-op model similar to the one in Babilonia.
We really needed it, says Elma de Aleluia, the organization's founder, who purchased the panels with the help of donations from the private sector.
Thanks to the savings on the electricity bill, I have money to spend on our other projects.