SÃO PAULO (Reuters) – The Ministry of Mines and Energy released the final rules for holding an auction to contract more power for the Brazilian electrical system, an event widely awaited by large thermoelectric and hydroelectric generators and which has become increasingly urgent need to ensure the comfort and security of energy supply to consumers.
Scheduled for June 27, the event will negotiate electrical power contracts with terms of seven to fifteen years, with supply starting in 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030, according to an ordinance published this Thursday in the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU).
Only existing natural gas-fired thermoelectric plants will be able to compete for contracts starting sooner, until 2027.
Contracts with longer power delivery deadlines are intended for new gas and biofuel thermoelectric projects (2028, 2029 and 2030) and for existing hydroelectric plants (2030), which could be expanded with the inclusion of new machines.
The event comes to meet the greater power needs of the Brazilian electricity sector, mainly due to the rapid growth of solar energy in the matrix in recent years.
Solar energy guarantees significant volumes of generation throughout the day, but when it stops producing in the late afternoon, it requires other plants to quickly come into operation to ensure the stability of the energy supply to consumers.
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This has become an increasingly greater challenge for the National Electric System Operator (ONS) in recent years. At the end of last year, the ONS said it identified a “relevant deficit” in power for the future, requiring contracts of around 3 gigawatts (GW) per year to ensure greater comfort and tranquility in the operation of the electricity sector.
The reserve auction must include the participation of large energy companies, such as Petrobras, the largest thermoelectric generator in the country. The state-owned plants are among those most used by the ONS to provide power services, and several of them, such as Termomacaé, Termoceará, Cubatão and Seropédica, had contracts expiring at the end of the year.
Eneva () has also previously said that it would seek to recontract part of its plants in the tender, and that it would try to make new thermoelectric projects viable for the future.
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The tender is also an important opportunity for the hydroelectric source, which stopped growing in Brazil several years ago due to the lack of supply of regulated contracts. Among the generators that have already shown interest in expanding their plants are Copel (), Eletrobras (;), Engie () and Auren ().
