The current renewable energy auction (First Energy Reserve Auction), which took place yesterday, August 28, 2015, was a crowded one. It included the competition of more than 11.26 gigawatts (GW) of potential capacity, via 341 different projects. This followed the approval of this large number of applicants by the Brazilian authorities.

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As noted by the Brazilian government’s Energy Research Agency (EPE), 125 of these projects (for over 4 GW of combined potential capacity) relate to the state of Bahia, while 61 (2 GW) relate to projects in the state of Piaui. The states of São Paulo, Pernambuco, and Grande do Norte all saw significant numbers of project proposals submitted for competition as well (over 1 GW each).

The Energy Research Agency’s president, Mauricio Tolmasquim, commented on the large number of potential projects thusly: “The large number of qualified projects predicts strong competition in the auction, which will benefit the customer.”

“Benefit the customer” — well one can certainly hope. With that said, though, a simpler way for consumers to benefit is to be given incentives to install their own solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, when possible. While this is of course not a monetary option for everyone, if one really wants to see the benefits of solar energy technology personally, then there’s no other real option (imo). Though perhaps community solar energy setups are a close runner-up (and the only good option in some circumstances)?

The upcoming Second Reserve Energy Auction is also seeing a significant amount of interest (as this first one is), with the Energy Research Agency registering 649 different proposals for the November 13, 2015, auction. Altogether, these projects total more than 20.9 GW of potential renewable energy capacity. Proposals concerning projects in the state of Bahia account for 6 GW of this figure, across 192 potential solar energy project.

We’ll see what comes of this most recent auction.

Image Credit: Charlie Phillips via Flickr