Portuguese 
Partnership with CEB and Terracap Places Catetinho Plant of 4.02 MWp at Service of the Court; New Structure Joins Approximately 1 MW Unit Installed at Headquarters and Will Offset Total Annual Electricity Consumption of TSE
The 2026 elections will be the first held with 100% of the annual electricity consumption of the Superior Electoral Court offset by solar generation. On September 1, TSE signed a partnership with the Brasília Energy Company (CEB) and the Development Agency of the Federal District (Terracap) to utilize the production from the Catetinho photovoltaic plant, according to information published by Canal Solar on September 2, 2026.
The project draws attention with its numbers. The new plant will have 4.02 MWp of installed capacity, 5,628 photovoltaic modules, and an estimated production capacity of approximately 7.7 million kWh per year. The reported investment is R$ 15.8 million (about US$ 3 million), and construction is now 98% complete.
The Catetinho will not operate alone. TSE already has a photovoltaic installation of approximately 1 MW at its headquarters. The production from both structures will allow for the offset of the court’s total annual electricity consumption, including during the election period, creating an unprecedented situation in a year when millions of Brazilians will head to the polls.
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Agreement Signed Just Weeks Before Elections Places Solar Energy at the Center of TSE Operations
The agreement involves three institutions.
On one side is the Superior Electoral Court.
On the other, CEB and Terracap.
The partnership establishes that the generation from the new plant will be used to offset the court’s annual electricity consumption.
Present at the signing were TSE President Minister Kassio Nunes Marques, CEB President Elie Chidiac, and Terracap President Júlio César de Azevedo Reis.
This initiative occurs at a time when photovoltaic energy already constitutes a significant portion of Brazil’s electricity matrix and is appearing in various scale projects.
In another example of the expansion of this technology, China has even replaced steel and plastic with bamboo composite to construct a 100 kW offshore solar platform, showcasing how new applications are bringing photovoltaic generation to increasingly unconventional locations.
The system is designed to achieve an estimated annual production of approximately 7.7 million kWh.
This is one of the most important figures for the project.
The 4.02 MWp capacity indicates the maximum size of the photovoltaic system under certain conditions.
Meanwhile, the estimated annual generation helps visualize how much electricity the system is expected to produce over the months.
Estimated production reaches 7.7 million kWh per year
The expectation is that the thousands of modules will produce approximately 7.7 million kilowatt-hours annually.
This energy will be utilized within the compensation system associated with the consumption of the TSE.
Therefore, it is important to clearly explain what will happen.
The news does not necessarily mean that all installations used during elections will be physically connected by cables directly to the Catetinho plant.
The agreement allows solar generation to offset the Tribunal’s annual electricity consumption, including the election period.
This distinction avoids the misleading impression that polling stations will operate individually on solar panels.
TSE already produces solar energy at its headquarters
The Catetinho also does not represent the Tribunal’s first encounter with photovoltaic generation.
The TSE already has a solar unit with approximately 1 MW of installed capacity at its headquarters.
Now, the 4.02 MWp from the new plant serves as a complement.
Combined, the systems provide the necessary generation for the Tribunal to fully offset its annual consumption.
The project follows a trend already seen in other Brazilian installations.
For example, a few years ago, train stations in São Paulo began to receive solar energy systems as part of initiatives aimed at reducing conventional consumption.
Election will be the first with the entire annual consumption of the TSE offset by solar energy
It is precisely the combination of the two installations that creates the announced milestone.
According to Canal Solar, the 2026 Elections will be the first held with 100% of the annual electricity consumption of the TSE offset by solar energy.
The formulation matters.
This data refers to the consumption of the Superior Electoral Court, and not to the total energy consumption associated with each regional court, electoral zone, or voting location in Brazil.
It also concerns offsetting through solar generation, and not the entire electoral structure functioning solely on photovoltaic panels.
Even with these caveats, the movement represents a significant shift in how the agency manages its energy consumption.
The most striking number is not just 100%, but the size of the infrastructure needed to get there
To achieve full offsetting, the TSE combines two structures.
The first already exists at its headquarters and has approximately 1 MW.
The second will add 4.02 MWp.
Just the Catetinho will comprise 5,628 modules and produce approximately 7.7 million kWh per year.
All of this helps to gauge how much equipment is necessary to offset the annual consumption of a large public institution.
Large-scale solar energy is not just about installing the modules.
There are inverters, structures, cabling, electrical protection, grid connection, maintenance, and generation monitoring.
R$ 15.8 million transforms solar area into a long-term energy asset
The reported investment for Catetinho is R$ 15.8 million.
Unlike a one-time electricity purchase, a photovoltaic plant creates an asset capable of generating energy for years.
The final economic performance will depend on factors such as equipment lifespan, maintenance, actual productivity, tariffs, and sector regulations.
Canal Solar’s report does not present an estimate of the financial return on the investment.
Thus, there is no basis to claim how many years the R$ 15.8 million will be recovered.
What is confirmed is the energy purpose: to offset the annual consumption of the Court along with the existing installation.
Electoral project tracks the accelerated growth of solar energy in Brazil
The choice of source comes in a country where photovoltaic generation has grown rapidly over the past decade.
Panels that previously appeared mainly in specific projects have begun to occupy residential roofs, businesses, rural properties, parking lots, and large plants.
The expansion has also brought billions of reais to new ventures.
Minas Gerais, for example, has already received projects like the solar park announced with an investment of R$ 4 billion, illustrating the scale that this source has reached in the country.
The TSE’s project is much smaller in capacity but has another characteristic: it directly associates renewable generation with the infrastructure of a central institution for the Brazilian electoral process.
Offsetting 100% does not mean that TSE will never consume electricity from the grid again
This is likely the most important technical point of the news.
Solar panels do not produce energy continuously.
At night, for example, photovoltaic generation drops to zero.
On cloudy days, production may also decrease.
Therefore, stating that the annual consumption will be 100% offset by solar energy does not necessarily mean that the Tribunal will be disconnected from the electrical grid or will consume only electricity instantaneously produced by the panels during all 24 hours of the day.
The logic considers the energy generated and the energy consumed within the mechanism applicable to the project.
Thus, solar production can equal consumption within the period considered.
The project also does not turn each electronic voting machine into solar-powered equipment
The association with the 2026 elections may lead to another misleading interpretation.
There will not necessarily be a solar panel individually connected to each voting machine.
The partnership addresses the offset of the TSE’s annual electricity consumption, including the period during the election.
Therefore, the effect is systemic.
The plant produces energy.
This generation fits into the compensation logic.
And the annual result allows the Tribunal to associate the equivalent of its entire consumption with photovoltaic production.
This explanation maintains the initiative’s impact without transforming the project into something technically different from what was announced.
With 98% of the work completed, the project enters the final stretch before the vote
Another important detail lies in the timeline.
The Catetinho plant has already reached 98% completion.
That is, only a small portion of the execution remains pending according to the reported stage.
This brings the announcement of a nearly finished physical structure closer.
The partnership signed between TSE, CEB, and Terracap formally connects the generation of the enterprise to the Tribunal’s energy consumption strategy.
And the schedule gives the project additional visibility.
The Brazilian general elections will take place precisely in 2026.
Agreement places sustainability in a national operation of enormous visibility
Few public activities in Brazil receive as much attention as a national election.
Therefore, connecting the electoral period to a renewable generation structure gives the project a dimension that goes beyond just the amount of electricity produced.
The investment also serves as a demonstration of a technology that has already reached commercial scale in the country.
Solar generation has ceased to be seen merely as an experimental alternative.
Today, it is part of industrial, residential, and institutional projects.
In this case, it fits into the energy strategy of the agency responsible for the administration of Electoral Justice at the national level.
5,628 panels and two plants create the account that the TSE intends to offset through compensation
The logic of the project can be summarized in a few numbers.
The headquarters already has approximately 1 MW of photovoltaic generation.
The Catetinho adds 4.02 MWp.
The new structure comprises 5,628 solar modules.
The estimated production reaches 7.7 million kWh per year.
The reported investment amounts to R$ 15.8 million.
And the construction is 98% complete.
Together, the structures are expected to generate enough energy to offset 100% of the TSE’s annual electricity consumption.
This combination will allow the Tribunal to navigate the 2026 Elections with a milestone that has not occurred in previous elections.
What began with panels at the headquarters now advances to a 4.02 MW plant
The transformation is more evident when the two phases are placed side by side.
First, the TSE installed approximately 1 MW of photovoltaic generation at its own headquarters.
Now, it incorporates the production from a much larger plant.
The Catetinho multiplies the available capacity and elevates the strategy to another level.
This is not just about adding some panels to the roof.
There are 5,628 modules in a dedicated installation built by a consortium involving CEB and Terracap.
Energy produced after the elections will continue to be an important part of the project
Although the announcement is strongly linked to the 2026 Elections, the plant does not exist solely for the electoral period.
Its estimated production is annual.
Thus, the energy benefit continues after the voting is over.
This detail is significant because the investment of R$ 15.8 million creates permanent infrastructure.
The elections provide visibility and establish a historic milestone.
But the energy asset has a much longer operational life than the voting days.
TSE transforms the 2026 election into a solar milestone without installing panels at every polling place
The story draws attention because it combines two topics that rarely appear in the same sentence: elections and a photovoltaic plant with thousands of modules.
However, the project is simpler to understand when the numbers are placed in order.
The TSE already has approximately 1 MW of solar generation at its headquarters.
Now, the Catetinho plant will add 4.02 MWp.
The project costing R$ 15.8 million will have 5,628 modules and is expected to produce around 7.7 million kWh annually.
With both structures, the Tribunal asserts that it will be able to offset 100% of its annual electricity consumption, including during the electoral period.
Thus, the 2026 Elections will be the first conducted under this condition.
Not because each voting machine will receive its own panel.
But because, behind the scenes of one of the largest public operations in the country, thousands of solar modules will begin to produce the equivalent of the electricity consumed annually by the TSE.
Do you think other public agencies should follow the TSE’s lead and invest in their own or shared plants to offset 100% of their electricity consumption with renewable sources?
