Government will expand existing gas thermal plants in the energy auction

After which is 5ª fair (2.dec.2025) an ordinance with the guidelines for the next energy capacity reserve auction, which will be held on June 27th this year, the (Ministry of Mines and Energy) will edit a new text with rules that expand the offer of the contest. According to the Poder360the estimate is that the 2th version of ordinance will be published on the 2ndª fair (Dec 6) or, at the latest, on the 3rdª fair (7.dec).

The main change aims to allow the contracting of existing gas thermoelectric plants for the years 2028, 2029 and 2030. The measure will benefit , a company controlled by André Esteves, which will be able to qualify for the auction the plants in the Parnaíba complex (Parnaíba 1 and Parnaíba 3), whose contracts expire at the end of 2027.

In the original wording, these plants can only compete for the delivery of energy in the years 2025, 2026 and 2027, which caused Eneva’s shares to plummet by 9.31% in the 1º trading floor of the (São Paulo Stock Exchange), on the 5thª fair (2.dec). This is because the units in the complex would be uncontracted at the end of the contracts. Here’s the document (PDF – 187 kB).

According to this digital newspaper, the publication of the ordinance was hasty. The minister (PSDB-MG) asked to include in the new text everything that could expand the auction offer. The assessment is that it makes no sense to leave out existing thermal plants, as they are cheaper than those yet to be built.

Another factor that complicates, in practice, the guideline that determines the construction of new plants is that the 3 largest global manufacturers of gas turbines –GE, Siemens and Mitsubishi– have full production capacity for the next 5 years. This is due to the heated demand in the United States with the growth of infrastructure data centerswhich require more energy, and to the Arabs, who are building more and more gas plants to decarbonize their energy matrix.

CAPACITY RESERVATION

The energy capacity reserve is contracted to ensure the availability of additional capacity in the SIN (National Interconnected System), especially in times of shortage or crisis in energy supply.

The auction takes place so that the country has sufficient capacity to generate energy in times of high demand or in emergency situations.

Here are the 7 products covered so far by the MME ordinance:

• Thermoelectric Power Product 2025: existing natural gas thermoelectric generation projects will be able to participate, without operational inflexibility;
• Thermoelectric Power Product 2026: existing natural gas thermoelectric generation projects will be able to participate, without operational inflexibility;
• Thermoelectric Power Product 2027: the delivery commitment consists of power availability, in MW (megawatt), in which existing natural gas thermoelectric generation projects may participate, without operational inflexibility;
• Thermoelectric Power Product 2028: new thermoelectric generation projects using natural gas and biofuels will be able to participate, without operational inflexibility;
• Thermoelectric Power Product 2029: new natural gas and biofuel thermal plants will be able to participate, without operational inflexibility;
• Thermoelectric Power Product 2030: new natural gas and biofuel thermal plants will be able to participate, without operational inflexibility; and
• Hydroelectric Power 2030 Product: projects to expand installed capacity may participate, through the installation of new generating plants, existing hydroelectric plants dispatched centrally that have not been extended or tendered under the terms of (except those tendered under the quota regime and which have part of the physical guarantee outside this regime).