Solar power helps Amazon communities ditch diesel and prepare for El Niño drought

SANTAREM, Brazil -- For the riverine community of Nova Sociedade, deep inside a protected area of Brazil's Amazon rainforest, the Arapiuns River is the only route to the outside world.

The Arapiuns flows into the Tapajos, one of the Amazon River’s major tributaries, across waterways so vast that navigating them can feel like crossing the open sea. Yet during a historic drought in 2024, Nova Sociedade’s residents had to walk as far as 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) in search of water.

“At daybreak, our struggle would begin,” said Tiago Silva, an Arapium Indigenous community leader in Nova Sociedade. “Children carrying water, elderly people carrying water. We all suffered.”

Two years later, the community is better prepared for this year’s El Niño, the naturally occurring climate phenomenon that raises global temperatures and can worsen drought in the Amazon.

In June, Nova Sociedade installed solar panels to power water pumps that fill storage tanks and provide clean water to all 36 families in the village. The Amazon-based nonprofit Saude e Alegria provided the system and has equipped 29 other communities with similar technology ahead of another possible severe drought.

Before solar power arrived, Nova Sociedade relied on diesel generators for basic electricity. Fuel is costly and polluting, and the generators provide limited, unreliable power.

Across the Amazon, the spread of off-grid solar power, closed systems not connected to utility companies, is helping remote communities reduce their reliance on diesel while improving access to clean water and electricity in homes, schools and health centers.

Last month, each Nova Sociedade household received its own solar-power system donated by Schneider Electric through Saude e Alegria. The easy-to-install kits include batteries to power lights at night and enough electricity to charge phones and other small devices.

“This technology uses the power of the sun and can replace other ways of generating electricity that often require clearing the forest or burning fuel, the very practices driving global warming,” Caetano Scannavino, an environmentalist and manager of Saude e Alegria, told residents as they received the solar kits. Scannavino also warned of another severe drought likely coming in October and November.

As community leaders called chiefs of households, residents rose smiling to collect their kits.

Some described the technology as a blessing. Women artisans said better lighting would allow them to continue weaving traditional jewelry and baskets after sunset, extending the hours they can spend producing an important source of income.

Most of those still without power live in the Amazon

Nova Sociedade illustrates how off-grid solar power is changing daily life in isolated Amazon communities. Beyond providing water and household electricity, the technology is increasingly supporting schools, health centers and local businesses.

According to official data, the number of off-grid systems installed in remote areas of the Amazon rose from just 105 in 2020 to more than 11,000 in 2022. By 2026, it had exceeded 100,000.

“It’s fair to say that nearly all of these are solar installations,” said Fabio Galdino dos Santos, a researcher at the Institute for Energy and Environment, or IEMA, a Brazilian nonprofit focused on sustainable energy.

More than 99% of Brazil’s 214 million residents had electricity access as of the 2022 census. Most of those still without power live in the Amazon, where isolation and high infrastructure costs have hindered electrification. About 1 million people in the region still lack access to electricity, according to IEMA.

Many off-grid communities have long relied on costly, polluting diesel generators. In Nova Sociedade, buying fuel requires a nearly three-hour boat trip to Santarem, the nearest city.

Even when fuel is available, electricity is limited. Generators typically shut down shortly after 10 p.m. and often lack enough capacity to run refrigerators. Temperatures there regularly exceed 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).

Better healthcare and quieter schools

Across the Amazon, government-backed and philanthropic initiatives are expanding access to electricity, often prioritizing infrastructure that serves entire communities.

At a public health clinic in Ana, another riverine community along the Arapiuns River, newly installed solar panels allow staff to refrigerate vaccines, conduct telemedicine appointments and operate basic medical equipment, including nebulizers, which are essential when wildfire smoke covers the region.

In Surucua, a community along the Tapajos River, the arrival of solar power is most noticeable in the silence.

Until last year, Sao Benedito School, which serves all 116 of the community’s students, relied solely on a noisy diesel generator.

“Today, all you hear are the children and the birds,” said Rosenilce Cruz, the school principal. “We couldn’t work outdoors because the generator was so loud. Now, the children can read outside. We can carry out projects there, and you can hear both the children and the teacher perfectly.”

The limited electricity supply also left classrooms dim and prevented the school from using refrigerators. Then the Santarem city government renovated the school and installed solar panels.

“Today, our children’s meals are no longer based on canned foods but on fresh sources of protein. We now have a place to store that food because electricity is available 24 hours a day,” Cruz added.

Solar power is also beginning to support local businesses. In neighboring Amazonas state, an acai processing facility in the Bela Conquista community, a remote village along the Solimoes River, recently shifted away from diesel-generated electricity.

Diesel power constrained production and left harvested fruit to spoil. The Foundation for Amazon Sustainability installed a solar-and-battery system in partnership with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet and Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy. The partners plan to develop 20 pilot projects over the next two to three years, supporting sustainable fishing, agriculture and fruit-processing businesses.

The Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, is vital to the global climate. It stores vast amounts of carbon, and moisture from its trees regulates temperatures and shapes weather across South America and beyond.

Protecting Indigenous and traditional territories is one of the most effective ways to preserve the rainforest. According to MapBiomas, an organization tracking land use, more than 80% of protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon — including 330 Indigenous territories — recorded no deforestation in the first half of this year.

Strengthening such traditional communities, including those now powered by solar energy, could help keep the forest standing, said Lázaro Silva, an engineering professor and coordinator of the renewable energy laboratory at the Federal University of Western Para, in Santarem.

Silva and his students have installed 40 solar systems across 27 remote communities in the Amazon since 2022.

“These communities have demonstrated a level of organization that makes them more resilient, helping them acknowledge their leading role in protecting the forest,” he said.

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