Brazil allocates 806 MW of solar in A-4 auction, final average price drops to $35.2/MWh

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Brazil’s government-run energy agency, Empresa de Pesquisa Energetica (EPE) and the Electric Energy Trading Chamber (CCEE) have allocated around 806.6 MW of PV capacity in the A-4 energy auction, which was held today.

Overall, around 1 GW of renewable energy capacity was assigned in the auction, including 114.4 MW of wind power, 61.8 MW of thermal capacity from biomass, and 41.6 MW of small-sized hydroelectric power facilities.

According to information provided to pv magazine by Rodrigo Sauia,  president of Brazilian solar association, Absolar, the final average price for the selected solar projects was around 118 BRL ($35.2)/MWh. The Brazilian energy regulator, ANEEL had established a maximum price of 312 BRL (US$96.5)/MWh for PV.

In the same auction of this kind, which was held in mid-December, the final average price for solar had been 145.78 BRL ($43.9)/MWh, while total allocated solar power had reached 574 MW (AC).

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For today’s auction, which was scheduled in the first part of the year, in order to allow the selected proponents more time for the development of their projects, the EPE had received 620 PV project applications with a combined capacity of around 20 GW.

Through the A-4 auction, which was the fifth held at a national level that has included the PV technology, the EPE has awarded 30-year PPAs to hydropower projects and 20-year PPAs to wind, solar and biomass power plants.

Selected power projects must begin injecting power into the Brazilian grid on January 1, 2022. In the previous four auctions held by the EPE between 2014 and 2017, around 3.5 GW of large-scale PV capacity was allocated.

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