Brazil cancels 25 wind and solar power projects

• 6 years ago (2017-08-29)
• David Flin

Latin America 75 Solar 243 Wind 239

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Brazil’s Government has cancelled the construction of 25 wind farms and solar parks in the country after companies behind the projects requested to return construction licenses for a fee. These companies took part in the so-called “cancellation round” for power project, as the government moved to allow firms struggling to develop the projects to return the licences.

Construction licences for 16 wind farms and 9 solar parks were cancelled.

Brazil’s power sector has been rattled by a combination of slumping demand, rising construction costs, and reduced credit availability as the country has gone through its harshest recession on record. Many companies that were awarded licences to build new power generation projects have said they would not have the financial conditions to build them. The situation led the Government to call for the unusual cancellation round.

At the end of the cancellation round, companies paid a combined fee of $33.43 million for the cancellations. In addition, the firms will be barred for two years from participating in any new round for new projects.

New round of bidding for construction are scheduled for December, the first ones since 2015, as the Government said that it sees the start of a recovery in power demand.