India based power transmission infrastructure developer Sterlite Power has emerged as the winner of the largest share of projects in the recently concluded auction for transmission projects in Brazil. It won six lots worth $1 billion, securing about 65% of the capex under auction.
Brazil's National Electric Energy Agency ANEEL in its transmission auction no. 2/2018 awarded projects worth 6 billion BRL ($1.55 billion) of investments. It contracted all 20 lots tendered to develop 2,562 km of transmission lines and 12,226 MVA.
Winners of this auction will be tasked with creating long connections between renewable energy projects and demand centers. Sterlite says these critical projects will largely help move renewable power from northern and north eastern parts of the country to southern and south eastern regions where load centers are located.
"Brazil requires an incremental 61,800 km in transmission lines and an increase of 199,200 MVA capacity. This translates to an investment of around R$ 119 billion (USD 30.8bn) in the 10-year period (2017-26)," said Sterlite Power's Group CEO, Pratik Agarwal. "We have already committed around $1.7 bn of the planned $4 bn in the region. We intend to develop global partnerships to execute our global portfolio of projects."
In April 2018, Brazil announced the results of its A-4 New Energy Auction. It awarded more than 1 GW, of which solar accounted for 806.6 MW. The previous A-4 auction held in December 2017 awarded 574 MW to solar (see PV Scores Highest In A-4 Brazil Auction).