Brazil pledges $154m to Amazon solar projects
Brazil has pledged BRL500m ($154m) towards residential solar projects in the Amazon basin next year. Development agency Superintendência do Desenvolvimento da Amazônia (SUDAM) and the Ministry of National Integration of Brazil said that loans will be granted to individuals who want to build solar energy projects in the nine states of the so-called Amazônia Legal. These will be backed by local banks Banco da Amazônia, Bank of Brazil and Banco de Nordeste. Helder Barbalho, minister of national integration, said the scheme should have "extraordinary social impact".
The Brazilian development agency for the Amazonas Basin, the Superintendência do Desenvolvimento da Amazônia (SUDAM), and the Ministry of National Integration of Brazil, to which the agency is linked, have announced that the funds, Fundos Constitucionais do Norte (FNO) and Fundo de Desenvolvimento da Amazônia (FDA) will grant loans to private individuals who want to carry out solar energy projects.

According to SUDAM’s statement, the funds will be used to finance residential solar projects under net metering in the nine states of the Amazon Basin. A total of 500 million BRL (US$154.3 million) will be available in 2018 to finance these projects, according to the local portal Veja, which also reveals that the loans will be granted by the local banks Banco da Amazônia, Banco do Nordeste and Bank of Brazil.

The Minister of National Integration, Helder Barbalho, described the measure as “a fundamental achievement of an extraordinary social impact.”

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The current coverage area of ​​the Legal Amazon, which accounts for approximately 59% of Brazil's total area, covers the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins and part of the states of Mato Grosso, Maranhão and Goiás. Around 55% of the indigenous population of the country reside in these states.