Brazil Auctions for Renewable Energy to Include Natural Gas

Brazil is seeking proposals for natural gas power plants, two months after releasing an official energy plan that said the country wouldn’t build new electricity projects powered by fossil fuels.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy will next quarter hold an auction for renewable energy that will include natural gas projects along with wind, biomass and hydroelectric plants, according to the country’s official gazette.

This contradicts the ministry’s official 10-year National Energy Expansion Plan, released in December, and comes as the country prepares to tap offshore reserves of oil and gas that were discovered in 2006.

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Brazil’s about-face may be an effort to take advantage of the Santos Basin oil and gas reserves, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) offshore, according to Liana Coutinho Forster, strategic planning analyst at Sao Paulo-based energy consulting company Excelencia Energetica. Large-scale production from those sites is expected to begin in the next two to three years, she said in an interview yesterday.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-03/brazil-auctions-for-renewable-energy-to-include-natural-gas-power-plants.html