Brazil has witnessed massive interest in yet another upcoming renewable energy auction despite a cancellation of a recent one.
According to a press release by the Brazilian energy agency, Empresa de Pesquisa Energética, more than 33 GW of wind and solar power capacity has been registered for the auction scheduled on 28 October. The auction will see only wind and solar power projects been allocated.
Empresa de Pesquisa Energética confirmed that a total of 1,192 projects have been registered for participation including 799 wind energy with 20.7 GW capacity and 393 solar power projects with 12.5 GW capacity.
The energy agency had reportedly cancelled a solar-only auction scheduled for 29 July. A massive 9.2 GW capacity was registered for participation in that auction.
In the auctions held so far, around 2 GW solar power capacity has been selected. In an auction held November 2015, just under 1 GW solar power capacity was auctioned at an average price of US¢7.75/kWh which was below the ceiling price. Similarly, in the solar-only auction held in August 2015 saw auction of 800 MW capacity at US¢8.42/kWh.
The Brazilian government recently doubled its solar power capacity addition target for 2024. Under the 10-year Energy Plan for 2024, the government announced target to have 7 GW of utility-scale and 1.32 GW of distributed solar power capacity.
