Brazil registers 19.4GW for A-3 2013 power auction

Empresa de Pesquisa Energetica (EPE), the Brazilian energy planning agency, received applications from 784 power projects totaling 19.4GW for the upcoming A-3 national tender, which will be held on 18 November 2013. The Brazilian authorities will now review the applications.

The projects registered include 629 wind projects (15.04GW), 119 solar plants (3.02GW), 17 hydro power plants (340MW), two biogas power plants (39MW), 15 biomass plants (504MW) and two natural-gas fired power plants (469MW).

Of the total solar power capacity, 2.73GW was bid for solar PV projects, while 290MW for solar thermal projects; and the majority of these projects, with 1.75GW of solar PV and 240MW of solar thermal, has been proposed for the state of Bahia.

The Government of Brazil has recently rescheduled the A-3 energy auction to 18 November 2013, against the previous date of 25 October 2013.

A-3/2013, which is the first auction in the country's regulated market to accept solar and waste-to-energy projects, requires developers to complete the projects by 1 January 2016.

Along with this, the federal auction also requires developers to ensure transmission lines for their projects are also in place by the same date.

Agencia Nacional de Energia Eletrica, the Brazilian electricity regulatory agency, will hold a public consultation on the energy auction notice in the near future and will publish the final notice one month ahead of the auction.

EPE president Mauricio Tolmasquim said the solar industry, which has been witnessing a fall in PV panel prices, could gain space on the Brazilian grid.

However, solar will have to compete with other technologies in the auction as currently there are no specific auctions for solar energy in the country.