Brazil's Solar PV sector to create more than 60,000 jobs opportunities by 2018

Brazil will require a trained workforce to keep up with the PV pipeline. Image of "Christ the Redeemer" by Encyclopædia Britannica Online


Brazil population is estimated at 204 million in 2015 per Trading Economics, and with the Samba nation unemployment rate of 6.8% that year, every effort to alleviate this is most welcomed.

In Brazil, industry players estimated that, for every 1 MW of solar, there will be 20 to 30 direct or indirect jobs created.

Let's say we loosely apply this to our situation in Malaysia, our current installed capacity of 227MW (latest from SEDA Malaysia - as at Feb 2016) would have created around 6,800 jobs so far. Not really sure if we have reached that figure yet.


As a matter of interest, here is more of the Brazil news (through PVTech):

Solar PV sector to provide jobs to 60,000 to 90,000 people

Brazil's solar energy sector will create between 60,000 and 90,000 new job opportunities up to 2018, according to the Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy (Absolar).

At present at least 3.3GW of solar power plants are due to be installed in Brazil by 2018 as part of the country's reserve energy auctions and projects made possible under the free market of the state of Pernambuco.

Absolar claimed this would help to alleviate Brazil's 6.8% unemployment rate at the end of 2015, which accounts for 1.7 million unemployed persons.

Furthermore, these estimates do not include the potential jobs creation arising from the distributed generation (DG) market, which tripled in size during 2015.

Absolar executive president Rodrigo Sauaia said the installation of solar projects will result in a "significant volume" of new job opportunities, but said the DG market will require a large number of small companies having skilled teams. Professional training will become a priority this year as such training takes time and therefore action must be taken now to avoid a manpower issue creating a bottleneck in the market once it starts to progress.

These comments echoed the findings of a recent report by India's Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), which claimed that India's ambitious solar energy target could spark the creation of one million jobs, but producing a skilled workforce may be challenging.

Referring to Brazil's action plan Sauaia said: "We are evaluating the certification mechanisms that have been applied in other countries, trying to understand which of these initiatives have been successful and which ones can be used as a reference for Brazil to plan our own way."

Source: PV Tech

Goal-line tech at World Cup 2014

I've been waiting for this to happen.

People have been talking a lot about goal-line technology and I hope this will finally become reality during the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

This is the disallowed Frank Lampard's goal against Germany during 2010 World Cup. The goal happened when England was trailing Germany by 2 goals to 1 and had it been allowed, the game approach would have been different as the momentum was all on England. Photo The Sun


What is goal-line technology

In football, goal-line technology is a method used to determine when the ball has completely crossed the goal line with the assistance of electronic devices or camera, or combination of both, and at the same time assisting the referee in calling a goal or not.

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FIFA confirms goal-line technology at World Cup
Reuters, Feb 19.

ZURICH  - Goal-line technology will be used at the 2014 World Cup and two more systems could be considered in addition to the existing pair, soccer's world governing body FIFA said on Tuesday.

Two systems, Hawkeye and Goalref, have so far been licensed by FIFA and both were used at last year's World Club Cup in Japan, one in each of the two stadiums, where goal-line technology was employed for the first time.

FIFA said a third system, developed in Germany, had already passed examinations and that the providers were in licensing discussions. A fourth system, also German, has also been tested with the results due this week.

FIFA confirmed goal-line technology was "successful" at the World Club Cup, although there were no incidents where it had to be used.

It intends to install goal-line technology at all 12 venues at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

"After a successful implementation of goal-line technology (GLT) at the Club World Cup in Japan in December 2012, FIFA has decided to use GLT at the Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 and 2014 World Cup," FIFA said in a statement.

FIFA said Hawkeye and Goalref would have to join the selection process.

Read the full article at Reuters

Solar PV Powers the 2014 World Cup in Brazil

That's right.

The Brazilian government is working toward embedding solar modules and other sustainable technologies to its stadiums for the upcoming football World Cup

At the start of 2012, 10 of the 12 host venues for the 2014 World Cup had applied for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) status. A world-wide recognition promoted by a US-based Green Building Council. That means installation of the Building Integrated Photo Voltaic (BIPV) on the roofs of the stadiums.

The ten venues are Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Natal, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. The most famous of all will be Mané Garrincha stadium in the capital Brasília, which organisers hope will become the first football stadium in the world to achieve LEED Platinum status, the highest level attainable.

Enjoy the view of Mane Garrincha Stadium, Brasilia:

 All photos are belong to worldcup2014directory. Visit them for more info on other stadiums.

Industry figures predict that solar panels embedded in roofing could become a standard feature of stadia in the near future as the new wave of building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) gains credibility in the world of big money sports.

Much attention has been given to Qatar’s plans for state-of-the-art solar stadiums that helped the Gulf state win the right to host the 2022 World Cup. The Brazilian government announced in September 2011 that all 12 tournament stadiums would be expected to achieve a minimum sustainability standard.

For Mane Garrincha Stadium

Renovation works are due for completion in December 2012 and the roof of tensioned canvas will feature an array of PV panels with capacity to generate 2.5 MWp. This is sufficient to generate at least 50% of the stadium’s energy needs during peak periods, while at other times excess energy will be fed into the national grid.

Report says that the construction costs could eventually surpass R$900 million (US$486 million), up from the R$688 million ($372 million) official estimate. However, drop in operating and maintenance costs will result in annual savings of around R$7 million ($3.78 million) after completion, and it will provide a legacy for 50 years or more.

Other venues

1. The revamped Maracanã stadium in Rio is to have a ring of solar panels on its roof.
2. The Estádio Governador Magalhães Pinto will have a roof with up to 1.5 MWp of solar panels.
3. The Pituaçu Stadium in Salvador, which will be one of the training venues, will have a 403kWp solar PV system on its roof.
4. The Pernambuco Arena in Recife will will feature solar heating to supply energy to the changing rooms, toilets and kitchens.

Soon, other stadiums will reveal solar energy plans soon, as well.

In comparison, in 2009 Taiwan inaugurated the world’s first 100% solar-powered stadium, featuring 8,844 panels which generate 1.14 GWh annually. Surplus energy from ‘Dragon Stadium’ is sold by the Taiwanese government.