“The priority of the government continues to be renewable energy,” says Mauricio Tolmasquim, president of the government’s energy research centre, EPE.

But with a plethora of gas coming to the market, the government’s interest has been piqued by the opportunity for a cheap and stable power source.

It has announced that natural-gas projects will compete with renewables in the A-3 tender.

That is contrary to an earlier assurance that should natural-gas projects be permitted to compete in regulated bids, they would be limited to the A-5 tenders, which generally feature big hydro plants.