Brazil’s federal government has approved the contracting of 70MW of battery storage to be installed in the northern state of Roraima in a bid to avoid power outages.

This is the first time that Brazil has looked into large-scale storage options, which will be contracted through a tender expected to be held in June this year, the government said.

Roraima – located in the Amazon region and bordering Venezuela – is part of Brazil yet to be connected to the country’s 124,000km national grid.