Brazil's Energy Research Company (EPE) this week released preliminary data from the National Energy Balance Report (BEN 2012), revealing that 88.8 percent of electricity supplied in Brazil in 2011 came from renewable sources - an increase of 2.5 percentage points since 2010.

The new figures demonstrate a reduction in Brazil's production of bioelectricity from sugarcane biomass due to a 9.8 percent decrease in harvest, as well as a 6.3 percent increase in hydroelectric production.

The report also shows that wind power generation is gaining considerable importance among Brazil's domestic power supply, producing approximately 2,700 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2011, an increase of 24.2 percent over 2010 production levels. This rapid growth rate is a positive sign for Brazil, as new wind power parks will begin operation within the next four years.

With the growth of the renewable share of the national electricity matrix in 2011, Brazil further expands its leading position in clean power generation compared to other OECD countries (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), which are mostly developed nations, according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Even despite the decrease in sugarcane biomass year over year, it remained at a high level of 44.1 percent of Brazil's energy matrix, much above the world average of 13.3 percent, according to the IEA.

The lower growth in demand for energy compared to GDP indicates that Brazil spent less energy to produce the same amount of goods and services. The demand energy per capita stood at 1.41 TOE in 2011, increasing approximately 0.5 percent since 2011.

Total energy consumption in Brazil, by both individuals and companies, increased by 2.6 percent over the previous year, with a corresponding domestic supply of 228.7 million TOE in 2011. This resembles a more stable balance between supply and consumption in 2011- 43.7 million TOE- compared to 2010, in which the TOE was 45.4 million.

The preliminary BEN 2012 results are available here.