The Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) has qualified solar to be one of the participating technologies in the A-6 New Energy Auction which was hitherto closed to PV technology. It will compete with small and medium sized hydroelectric power plants that will have 30-year contracts. Other technologies including biomass, coal, and gas will secure contracts of up to 25 years, while wind and solar will be contracted for 20 years.
The A-6 auction will take place on September 26, 2019 and the winning projects will need to come online by January 2025.
In 2017 and 2018, solar participated in the A-4 auction scheme that accepts only renewables to compete against each other. It is already part of the A-4 auction for this year scheduled for June 27, 2019 for which the Energy Research Company (EPE) of Brazil has registered a total of 1,581 projects representing 51.2 GW of clean energy capacity. Solar and wind power each offer 751 projects (see Over 51 GW Proposals For Brazil June 2019 Auction).
Brazilian solar energy association ABSOLAR says it advocated the inclusion of solar in A-6 auction scheme with the MME. Interested bidders need to register their projects till May 17, 2019. Those projects that have already been registered in the A-4 auction need not resubmit documents if the technical characteristics of the projects do not change. Except for hydropower plants, all other plants need to have a minimum capacity of 5 MW and above.
The A-4 and A-6 auctions are being held annually in Brazil and will also take place in 2020 and 2021 (see Brazil Schedules A-4 Auction For June 2019).
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