PV Scores Highest In A-4 Brazil Auction

• Brazil has announced 39 new projects as winners of A-4 New Energy Auction
• 29 winning bids were for solar, representing 806.64 MW capacity
• Solar's average price was 118.07 BRL ($35.63) per MWh,
• The average price for wind power projects was 67.60 BRL ($20.43) per MWh
• Most of the solar power capacity will be developed in Ceara; 14 PV projects will be located in that state

Brazil has awarded 1,024 MW of new energy capacity in the A-4 auction conducted on April 4, 2018. A total of 39 projects were selected, with solar PV bagging 29, which represents 806.64 MW of installed solar power capacity, according to the Electric Energy Trading Chamber (CCEE).

In the previous A-4 auction conducted in December 2017, solar won 574 MW of capacity for an average price of 145.78 BRL ($43.88) per MWh.

With more than 78% capacity won, the average price of the PV projects was 118.07 BRL ($35.63) per MWh. Wind power projects were negotiated for an average price of 67.60 BRL ($20.43) per MWh, but won only 4 projects with 114.4 MW total capacity.

Out of the 29 PV projects, 14 will be set up in the state of Ceara, 6 each in Piaui and Minas Gerais and 3 in Pernambuco. Solar power projects will be set up for an investment of 4.2 billion BRL ($1.26 billion).

Ceara bagged most of the investment of Brazilian states for around 2.1 billion BRL ($630 million), followed by Piaui with over 1 billion BRL ($300 million).

All projects need to come online by January 1, 2022.

Brazil had admitted 1,672 power projects for the A-4 auction, representing 48.7 GW of installed capacity in January 2018 (see Brazil Pre-Qualifies 620 PV Projects For Auction). Of this, wind power projects accounted for 26.19 GW and solar represented 20.02 GW of the accepted capacity.