Latin America Market Outlook H1 2024: Brazil to Drive Growth

Wind and photovoltaic (PV) capacity additions in Latin America reached new highs last year, fuelled by impressive growth in Brazil, which ranked third globally in terms of new wind and PV capacity additions. Renewable energy generation continued to climb in all major markets except Mexico, and has now risen to the equivalent of about one-third of Chile's total generation. Despite continued weakness in the Argentine and Mexican markets, Bloomberg New Energy Finance expects 2024 to be another exceptional year for Latin America, with major climate policy announcements in Brazil, fundamental market reforms in Argentina, and a new government taking office in Mexico.

New clean energy investments declined slightly from the previous year's record levels. Brazil's distributed photovoltaic market accounted for more than half of the region's total clean energy investments.

However, the decline in investment failed to stop the growth of renewable energy. Wind and photovoltaic capacity additions increased by 27 per cent over the previous year, with Brazil accounting for 80 per cent of the total, with the country's strong market leading growth. Brazil's booming sub-5MW PV market and wind power additions are key drivers of renewable energy activity in the Latin American region.

Distributed photovoltaic (PV) projects in Brazil alone account for 43 per cent of total wind and PV additions in Latin America by 2023 and 55 per cent of total new investment in clean energy. PV has become the second largest technology in the installed capacity mix in Brazil.

PV capacity additions across the region hit a record high in 2023. Total new installed capacity soared to more than 21GW, a 16 per cent increase year-on-year, equivalent to the total installed capacity in Colombia. Brazil led this growth, commissioning around 17GW of new installed PV capacity, 70 per cent of which was distributed PV.