Brazil held its largest energy auction ever on Wednesday, contracting nearly 19 gigawatts of new and existing power capacity — a record that eclipses even the landmark 2010 deal for the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric dam.
The numbers are staggering: 100 projects across 20 states (including new ones), projected investments of BRL 64.5 billion (USD 12.3 billion) and enough new capacity to cover roughly 10% of Brazil’s entire installed base. Of the total contracted:
46% will come from new thermoelectric plants (90 of which will run on natural gas, three on imported coal and two on biomethane);
40% comes from the renewal of existing capacity;
13% comes from the expansion of five hydroelectric plants.
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