Brazil’s Cemig launches its third wind, solar auction

Brazil-based power company, Compañía Energética de Minas Gerais S.A. (Cemig) – the fourth largest energy company in the country – announced that it will hold another auction for large-scale wind and solar power projects on September 13.

According to the auction announcement, which was published on the Brazilian financial newspaper Jornal Valor Económico, the company will award 19-year PPAs to the selected projects through this third procurement exercise. No information was provided on the total capacity that will be assigned through the auction.

Cemig will sell electricity from the contracted wind and solar energy facilities to the Brazilian Free Electricity Market (mercado livre de eletricidade). In this market, the power providers negotiate the conditions of the electricity sale between themselves, or directly with large energy consumers.

During the first auction of this kind, held in June 2018, Cemig contracted 431 MW of solar and wind capacity. In the second procurement exercise, held in early October, the power company contracted another 152 MW for wind and solar power.

These auctions were developed to support Cemig in replacing part of the generation capacity it lost last year, from the concessions of four Brazilian hydropower plants – in São Simão (1.7 GW), Miranda (404 MW), Jaguara (424 MW) and Volta Grande (380 MW). These projects were given to big international energy companies, such as Engie, Enel and China’s State Power Investment Corporation.