Brazil readies big push on solar energy but companies are wary

Bernard Orr – Reuters, 8/11/2014

Grappling with its worst energy crisis in more than a decade, Brazil is making its first big move to develop a local solar power industry that could help reduce its dependence on a battered hydro power system.

In October, Brazil will hold an auction to negotiate energy to be produced exclusively by solar farms, the first ever of the kind in the South American country.

Power companies have registered some 400 projects for the auction, but many remain wary of the outlook for solar power in Brazil and say they need more clarity on investment conditions and financing before signing any deals.

Read more…

Brazil state seeks 180 megawatts of solar farms to lure industry

Stephan Nielsen – Bloomberg, 11/25/2013

Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco will auction 180 megawatts of solar farms on Dec. 20 as it seeks to become a manufacturing hub for the expanding industry.

Developers will bid down from a maximum price of 250 reais ($109.13) a megawatt hour and the power plants must be completed within three years, Eduardo Azevedo, Pernambuco’s executive secretary for energy, said today in a telephone interview. Companies that agree to buy the power will qualify for a government rebate on the value-added tax ICMS, so they’ll be effectively paying 164.87 reais a megawatt hour, in line with market rates.

Brazil is seeking to boost investment in solar plants and Pernambuco is well suited to supply equipment, Azevedo said. The state is in talks with German, Korean, Chinese and Italian companies to build factories for solar equipment including inverters and support structures for panels.

Read more…

Brazil to issue regulations supporting solar energy, Aneel says

Stephan Nielsen – Bloomberg, 03/14/2012

Brazil, which has a single utility- scale solar plant, will issue within two weeks a pair of regulations designed to promote the use of power generated from sunshine, the country’s electricity regulator Agencia Nacional de Energia Eletrica said.

The two-pronged policy push offers tax breaks to utilities and will let consumers and businesses sell electricity generated from renewable sources to the grid, according to Ivan Marques de Toledo Camargo, Aneel’s director of regulation for distribution services.

Brazil has organized power auctions that made wind power cheaper than energy generated from fossil fuels and is the world’s second-largest ethanol producer. The country is now seeking to boost the use of solar energy, Camargo said.