Brazil accredits 9GW of solar projects for July auction

Brazil’s energy agency EPE has accredited 295 solar PV projects totalling more than 9.2GW of capacity ahead of its reserve energy auction to be held on 29 July.

Of the 10 states that saw solar projects accredited, the top five states for solar accreditations were:

EPE also accredited 73 small hydropower plants at 889MW and 60 central hydropower genrations projects at 96MW. However EPE noted that solar power “stood out” in the registering. The projects will now go through a qualification phase.

This the fourth Brazil auction with a category for solar PV, following auctions held in November and August in 2015 and the first major auction in 2014, which resulted in the combined award of around 3GW of solar.

However, developers of the majority of projects awarded in Brazil’s first solar-only tender round in 2014 recently submitted a request to the regulator to delay construction by two years.

Canadian Solar, Renova Energia and four other unnamed developers wrote to Aneel, Brazil’s national electrical energy agency, citing market conditions as the reason for the request.

Tags: brazil, auction, epe