Brazil Will Contract 2–3 GW Of New Solar Energy Projects During Auctions In 2015–2018

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

The Brazilian government will contract roughly 2–3 gigawatts (GW) of new solar energy projects between the years 2015 and 2018 as part of its commitment to national electricity generation + transmission plans, according to recent reports.

These figures mean that the annual averaged newly contracted solar energy capacity between the months of August 2015 and December 2018 will rest somewhere between 500 megawatts (MW) and 750 MW — on the conservative side, anyways.

brazil flag

There are currently two national solar auctions scheduled for 2015 — one a few weeks from now on August 28, and one a bit later, on November 13. To date, the solar auctions have already been oversubscribed by more than 17 GW, with total proposed solar photovoltaic (PV) project capacity standing around 20.5 GW across 600 bidders. Proposed projects have to be fully functional by November 2018 in order to get access to 20 year power purchase agreements (PPAs).

Eduardo Braga, the country’s Minister of Mines and Energy, also made the announcement that there is expected to be an accompanying “micro-generation program” for solar energy installations — no details have been released about that yet, though. The country’s National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) also has a program now ongoing concerning net metering regulation — that reportedly has the potential to result in the addition of ~500,000 solar PV systems, equalling as a much as 2 GW in capacity in ~10 years.

On a side note, the leading Brazilian energy company Cemig (possessing roughly 12% of national electricity distribution share) is currently seeking partners for a new $1.15 million solar energy project to be built in Minas Gerais — according to Reuters. Interestingly, the company is aiming to produce the solar PV panels locally.


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

James Ayre has 4830 posts and counting. See all posts by James Ayre