Brazil solar auction attracts world’s lowest prices

• 11 years ago (2014-11-05)
• Junior Isles

Renewables 818

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An auction for solar PV projects in Brazil is attracting bids, which are among the lowest in the world.

Brazil held its first ‘solar-only’ energy auction last week to set contract prices for at least 500 MW of solar capacity.

More than 400 projects with a total capacity of over 10 000 MW were bid into the auction. The result was that the ceiling of Reals262/MWh was easily beaten, and the average offer for more than 1080 MW of accepted bids was Reals215.12/MWh, ($87/MWh). This is among the lowest solar prices anywhere in the world and, importantly, is without subsidy.

Brazil has found that wind and solar is more cost competitive than new coal or gas fired generation.