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Brazil preps auction for non-interconnected state of Roraima

Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) has opened a public consultation on a new energy auction for the isolated power system of Boa Vista and its connected localities, in the northern state of Roraima.

Through the tender, the Brazilian government wants to grant 15-year PPAs to renewable and conventional energy power projects that must start commercial operation from January 1, 2021. The scheduled date for the auction is May 16.

According to newswire Agencia Brasil, Roraima is the only Brazilian state not interconnected to the national grid. Since July 2001, a large part of the state – including the city of Boa Vista – has been powered by electricity from Venezuela, through a transmission system that straddles the border of both nations. The generator is Venezuelan company Corpoelec, which has a supply contract until December 2021.

The planned auction is part of the MME’s plan to guarantee electricity supply to more than 200 locations in northern Brazil. In March, the ministry gave distribution companies four months to submit, through its Empresa de Pesquisa Energética agency, proposals for their isolated consumer markets over the following five years.

“Innovation makes it possible to increase the share of renewable sources in those regions, currently served mostly by diesel-fired thermoelectric plants,” the MME said at the time.

Source: pv magazine