Brazil’s power provider Cemig to hold wind, solar auction on May 16

Brazil’s Minas Gerais-based power company, Compañía Energética de Minas Gerais S.A. (CEMIG), the fourth largest energy company in the country, has announced it will hold its own auction for large-scale wind and solar power projects on May 16, 2018.

Through the auction, the company will award 20-year PPAs to projects that will have to start delivering power beginning from 2022. No information was given on the total capacity that will be assigned through the auction.

According to Reuters, CEMIG will sell the power from the contracted wind and solar energy facilities to the Brazilian deregulated national electricity market (mercado livre de eletricidade). In this market, the power providers negotiate the conditions of the electricity sale between themselves, or directly with big energy consumers.

The main aim of the auction, according to local media, is to partly provide the Brazilian company with the power generation capacity it recently lost, due to the concessions of four hydropower plants in São Simão (1.7 GW), Miranda (404 MW), Jaguara (424 MW) and Volta Grande (380 MW), previously run by CEMIG, to big players including Italy’s power utility, Enel, French energy company, Engie, and China’s State Power Investment Corporation.

Lumped together, all of these hydropower plants represented more than 30% of CEMIG’s power generation assets.

CEMIG provides power to 22 Brazilian states, and to Chile. The state of Minas Gerais has a stake of over 50% in the company.