Brazil govt halts wind, solar project licensing - report

The Brazilian government has stopped issuing licenses for new wind and solar power generation projects, Reuters reported on Monday.

The country's reasoning for this comes from the current oversupply on the energy market as well as the deep recession that started in early 2014 and from which Brazil is still struggling.

Brazil has not issued any new licenses for wind and solar projects since the tenders in 2015. Reuters cited Deputy Energy Minister Paulo Pedrosa as saying that one cannot guess when the government will restart project licensing, but it is unlikely to see any this year.

Late in 2016 the Ministry of Mines and Energy officially cancelled the December 19 wind and solar reserve energy auction. Abeeolica president Elbia Gannoum warned at the time that this was "almost a deadly blow" for the wind energy supply chain in the country. Reuters cited Pedrosa as saying that the government has faced requests and pressure from equipment makers and governors of certain states for the licensing to resume, but that will not happen anytime soon.

Brazil's installed wind power capacity reached 11.13 GW at the beginning of June, the National Wind Energy Association (Abeeolica) said recently.

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