How solar panels and batteries are changing routine in the Amazon

(Bloomberg) — The Brazilian Amazon is teeming with plant and animal life and is fundamental to the health of the planet as a large reservoir of carbon dioxide. The country also has the cleanest national electrical matrix among the G20 countries, thanks to the abundance of hydroelectric plants, many of them located in the Amazon itself.

But many Amazon communities are not connected to the grid. In remote areas without roads, transmission lines are difficult to build and maintain. Instead, they rely on polluting diesel generators for electricity.

The diesel, transported by boat, is burned in around 160 local thermoelectric plants and in thousands of generators spread throughout the forest. The Brazilian government spends approximately US$2.4 billion in subsidies per year to maintain this system, according to the National Electric Energy Agency.

Now, solar panels and lithium batteries are beginning to transform the region, complementing or completely replacing diesel.

“Before we depended on diesel and lamps,” said Waldemir da Silva, leader of the Três Unidos indigenous community, with around 40 families at the mouth of the Cuieiras River, located around 72 kilometers from Manaus, capital of the state of Amazonas, and accessible only by boat. “Today we have energy 24 hours a day, without noise or smoke.”

The shift is being driven by a combination of federal policies, falling technology costs and philanthropic initiatives to build microgrids.

Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy plans to add solar power and batteries to diesel plants in the Amazon. Last year, it approved an initial set of 29 projects, which together will serve 650,000 people and avoid the emission of 800,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases by 2036, according to official estimates. Subsidy savings are expected to reach around US$171 million.

The difference in emissions between the Brazilian interconnected system and isolated systems highlights how polluting electricity generation still is in the Amazon. While the national grid emitted, on average, about 0.04 tons of CO₂ per megawatt-hour in 2025, emissions in isolated systems reached 0.67 tons per megawatt-hour — almost 17 times higher, according to Vinicius Nunes, a BloombergNEF associate based in São Paulo.

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In Tefé, a city with 74 thousand inhabitants, the energy technology company Aggreko is implementing one of the largest hybrid systems in the program, integrating solar generation and battery storage with an existing diesel plant. China’s Huawei is providing the technology, including around 122 MWh in batteries. The project is expected to come into operation within the next two years.

Brazilian battery manufacturer UCB Power installed a smaller hybrid system in Maués, a city with around 61,000 inhabitants, in November. “When you combine solar with storage in a thermal plant, it is possible to generate competitiveness, create value and deliver returns compatible with what any investor would expect,” said Antonio Maldonado, the company’s director of operations.

Outside of Amazonian cities and towns, around 1.2 million people live in indigenous and riverside communities deep in the forest. They rely on generators, but use them only a few hours a day to save fuel, which has become even more expensive amid disruptions to global supply chains caused by the war with Iran.

Until recently, this was the case in Três Unidos, a community of the Kambeba people that sustains itself through eco‑cultural tourism.

Electricity came from a diesel generator that ran intermittently. A federal program called Luz Para Todos had provided solar kits and batteries to residents, but they generated only enough power for basic lighting, not cooling.

Without the possibility of storing food, residents depended on ice, which was expensive in the region. “All our profit went to buying ice,” said Neurilene Kambeba, who runs a restaurant and guesthouse.

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The solar kits met “social needs, but not productive ones,” said Valcléia Lima, deputy superintendent of Fundação Amazônia Sustentável (FAS), a non-profit organization. “Without adequate energy, communities are left without water, without preserving food and without the ability to generate income,” he stated.

In December, Três Unidos received a new microgrid system with solar panels and batteries. 24-hour power allows for the use of refrigeration, and the community has drastically reduced its diesel consumption, burning about 1,800 liters (approximately 475 gallons) less per month. Occupancy at Neurilene Kambeba’s guesthouse has increased by 70%, now that tourists can use fans all night. Visitors can also pay for crafts with a credit card, a consequence of both more reliable power and the ubiquitous presence of Starlink antennas.

The Três Unidos microgrid was financed by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, in partnership with the German international cooperation agency GIZ (German Society for International Cooperation) and the FAS. The system includes 320 solar panels and 120 batteries and is managed by the community itself, whose residents have been trained to operate and maintain the equipment. Families make monthly contributions to a common fund that covers maintenance costs.

Três Unidos is the fifth community to benefit from the FAS microgrid program. Neighboring Santa Helena do Ingles has had a microgrid since 2021 and recently implemented a new system to supply an ice factory. The expectation is to reduce costs for local fishermen, who will no longer need to travel to Manaus to buy ice, only to see half their load melt on the way back.

The microgrid in Tumbira supplies the village’s infrastructure, including the school, health center and water system. Like the Santa Helena system, it was donated and receives technical support from UCB Power. UCB, which has a factory in the Manaus free zone, is testing sodium batteries in parallel with lithium batteries in Tumbira to assess their performance in the hot and humid climate of the Amazon.

Markus Vlasits, president of the Brazilian Association of Energy Storage Solutions, says that the expansion of microgrids with solar panels and batteries is limited by the lack of viable financing models. Large hybrid systems in urban areas can attract public resources and private investment, while Luz Para Todos provides small residential solar kits. Microgrids are in the middle of the road, depending on donations and pilot projects.

“We need to find ways to make this technology more accessible to smaller communities, as they often do not have the financial capacity to invest on their own,” said Vlasits, who is also the general director of NewCharge Energy, a company that participated in the implementation of the Tumbira microgrid.

Roberto de Mendonça, a former logger and now owner of a guesthouse in Tumbira, said that the next step should be the expansion of solar energy beyond public infrastructure, reaching homes in the community, so that residents do not need to depend on an unstable grid or diesel as a backup. This would help boost the local economy, especially tourism, he said.

“If all communities had solar energy, it would be a clean solution that strengthens sustainability,” he said. “Energy brings quality of life, progress, income and education — it brings everything.”

© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.