Planners favor gas at auction in Brazil as renewables prioritize wholesale market

Brazilian power planning authorities hosted a long-term auction to procure electricity for distribution utilities within the regulated market in October 2019. PV debuted at a long-term A-6 auction for the first time in this edition, although solar bid pricing did not undershoot regional records set at the A-4 auction hosted earlier in April 2019. Generation sold from three natural-gas fired facilities made the fossil fuel the most successful technology at the auction round. PV was the most inexpensively priced technology at the A-6 at an average bid price of 84.39 BRL/MWh (21 USD/MWh) although less solar generation accounted for the least amount of electricity procured. Overall, wind power and PV held back potential generation from winning auction sites to later commercialize in the unregulated market.