Brazil will have a sequence of large transmission auctions to serve solar projects

This week, ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) carried out the preliminary approval of the first Transmission Auction of 2022, scheduled for June 30th, at the headquarters of B3, in São Paulo (SP).

This is one of the largest transmission competitions in recent times, with 13 lots open for bidding, aiming for the construction and maintenance of 5,291 kilometers of transmission lines and 6,260 MVA in substation transformation capacity.

In terms of investment, this will be one of the biggest auctions in recent years: with a forecast of R$ 15.3 billion, of which R$ 12 billion will be concentrated in Minas Gerais (Lots 1 to 3), to transport energy generated by renewable sources, mainly solar energy. 

In total, 31 thousand direct jobs will be generated during the construction period of the projects, which have a completion period of 42 to 60 months, in the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul , Minas Gerais, Pará, Rondônia, Santa Catarina, São Paulo and Sergipe. 

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What does the size of this 1st broadcast auction reveal? 

Bernardo Marangon, director of Exact Energy and electrical engineer with experience in GC (centralized generation) projects, explains that the first event of the year is much larger than in previous years. “We must now enter a sequence of large auctions to serve new renewable energy projects, especially solar energy”, he assesses.

He explains that, because of this, one of the biggest challenges facing auctions in the coming years will be, precisely: “growing to meet the giant demand for renewable projects that are emerging, especially in the north of Minas Gerais and the Northeast”, he states.  

Another challenge highlighted by Marangon will be increasing energy export capacity between sub-markets in the northeast and southeast regions. “This has been a major concern for investors in projects in the Northeast and, in my view, EPE has the mission of trying to reduce, as much as possible, these limitations that end up causing the PLD to have price disparities between these submarkets”, he highlighted. . 

The director of Exata Energia also comments that one of the solutions that could be studied to support energy transmission would be investments in storage. “I see it as a solution to resolve this concentration of energy that solar brings to these regions at times with the sunniest. In other words, in my view, centralized storage should compete with new transmission lines in order to use these assets more efficiently”, he reinforces.