Wind registers more than 26GW for Brazil A-4 tender in April
Brazilian wind and solar developers registered a total of 26.2GW and 20GW of projects respectively for the upcoming A-4 renewable energy tender scheduled for April, said Brazil’s energy planning authority (EPE).
The number of projects – 931 for wind and 620 for solar PV – is roughly similar to the total registered for tenders in 2017. The two technologies accounted for most of the projects and capacity registered, which added up to 48.7GW when also tallying small- and large-hydro, and biomass plants.
EPE said that 77% of the projects registered for this year’s first tender were previously registered for last year’s auctions using a fast-track scheme.
The A-4 tender is one of at least three that the Brazilian government plans to hold this year. It will be held on 4 April to contract power through 20-year PPAs starting in 2022.
EPE will now analyse the documents before finally clearing the projects, including access to the grid.
How much will be contracted will depend on power distributors’ projections for future demand, said EPE.
The tender comes as Brazil’s economy starts to rebound after around three years of recession. Recent power demand statistics show a slight recovery. In November and December last year, power demand rose about 2% compared to the same months a year earlier.
Even so, total power consumption is still well below pre-crisis levels up to 2014.
After two years without tenders, Brazil contracted 1.4GW of wind and just over 570MW of solar PV in two tenders with PPAs starting in 2021 and 2023.
Although most of the registrations were in the traditional wind and solar states of Bahia, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte and Piauí in the Northeastern region, developers have started putting forward projects in new regions.
In Minas Gerais, in Brazil’s Southeastern region, 166MW of wind was registered, with another 187MW in the state of Sergipe. While Minas Gerais has no operating wind farms, Sergipe has just 42MW out of Brazil’s total of 12.6GW, according to the Brazilian Wind Power Association (ABEEólica).
In the southern Brazilian state of Paraná 514MW of new projects were registered for the tender there.
