On June 2, ANEEL approved the opening of a public hearing to discuss and receive contributions from the market in Bidding Notice nr. 08/2015, relating to the 1st Reserve Energy Public Bidding Session of 2015.

The Bidding Session, expected to take place on August 14, 2015, is being held for the exclusive contracting of new energy drawn from photovoltaic solar sources, with supplies expected to start flowing as of August 1, 2015.

The draft of the bidding notice submitted to the hearing repeats the models used in the most recent bidding sessions, except that it includes certain modifications relating to: (i) technical requirements for individual or shared connection of the photovoltaic plants to the transmission or distribution grids (as the case may be); and (ii) the requirement that bidders acting by means of a consortium form a specific purpose company to be granted the license, should they effectively trade energy on the market.

Energy reserve contracts ('CER') will be negotiated in form of "power quantity" agreements (modalidade quantidade de energia elétrica), with supply periods of 20 years. Up until now, 382 solar power projects have been registered, these being distributed across 11 states, with an installed capacity of 12.6 megawatts (MW).

The discussion over the bidding rules is due to take place between June 3 and July 3 this year. Contributions should be forwarded to the email address ap034_2015@aneel.gov.br, or to the following address: SGAN, Quadra 603, Módulo I- Térreo/Protocolo geral, CEP 70.830-110, Brasília-DF.

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