Brazil opens public consultation on 2026 capacity auction for battery storage

Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy has opened a public consultation on the guidelines and structure for the 2026 LRCAP storage capacity auction. The notice was published Monday in the Official Gazette, with the consultation open for 20 days.

According to the draft ordinance, the auction will contract systems of at least 30 MW, with an obligation to deliver maximum power for four hours per day. Contracts will run for ten years, with supply due to begin on 1 August 2028.

Projects connected to points in the National Interconnected System that offer the greatest operational benefit will receive a competitive advantage, with a bonus to be defined by the National System Operator (ONS).

Brazil’s Energy Storage Solutions Association (ABSAE) said around 18 GW of battery projects are ready for registration in the next auction. It estimates that contracting 2 GW could unlock about R$10 billion in investment.

The auction, to be organised by the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) in April 2026, will contract the Storage Capacity Product, under which delivery commitments are based on guaranteed power availability in MW.

Both standalone systems and those sharing a grid-connection point with other assets such as power plants may participate. In the latter case, no separate technical qualification will be required. All systems must be capable of full recharge within six hours.

Exceptionally for this auction, participants will not need to present environmental licences, either preliminary, installation or operation, at the qualification stage. Deadlines for obtaining them will be set in the final tender documents.

The decree also allows contracted systems to support grid flexibility and help mitigate systemic energy surpluses when requested by the ONS.

ANEEL must still determine how storage systems will pay for use of transmission and distribution networks, along with the related tariffs and charges. The classification of storage, whether as consumer or generator, has divided ANEEL’s board and delayed the vote on Public Consultation 39, which proposed the access and remuneration framework for batteries.

From pv magazine Brazil