Brazil greenfield thermal projects could face equipment supply bottlenecks

Thermoelectric projects contracted in Brazil's expected backup capacity tender could face equipment supply bottlenecks, according to Eneva's external relations and communications director Aurélio Amaral. 

Initially scheduled for August, the tender was postponed by the government and no new date has been set. Although there is still a chance that it will be held in December, the most likely outcome is that it will be in 2025. 

The auction foresees the contracting of plants to start supplying energy in 2027 and 2028. 

“We're worried because global demand is heating up. The Arabs are buying a lot of turbines because they are switching from oil to gas,” Amaral told BNamericas. 

He said the world's three main turbine suppliers – Siemens, Mitsubishi Power and GE – are “highly-demanded.” 

“We’re running the risk of not having any equipment when the auction is held, which poses a greater challenge for the country in the coming years in terms of energy supply,” Amaral warned, adding that with the installation of more datacenters in Brazil, the demand for energy will rise even more. 

In a recent report, national grid operator ONS indicated the possibility of explicit risk of insufficient power supply (loss of load probability, or LOLP) in 2026. 

Sources told BNamericas that not contracting backup capacity this year is a risk, considering the drought affecting the hydro-dependent country.

Eneva is one of Brazil’s main gas-fired generators, with plants in operation in Roraima and Maranhão states. In both cases, the gas supplied comes from onshore fields operated by the company. 

The Brazilian group is building two new thermal plants, Parnaíba VI (92MW) and Azulão (950MW). Located in Amazonas and Maranhão, they are scheduled to come online in 2025 and 2026, respectively. 

Meanwhile, Eneva is concluding the connection of its Sergipe state liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to the pipeline network of Transportadora Associada de Gás (TAG). The authorization from oil and gas watchdog ANP for the start of supply from the company’s floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) is expected to be issued early October. 

“We already have demand to supply gas to [the city of] Linhares, in Espírito Santo, to meet the demands of the ONS for thermoelectric dispatch now, in this critical period,” Amaral said, referring to the drought. 

Eneva is also awaiting the green light from the ANP to begin supply from its new small-scale LNG plant in Maranhão for industrial installations of Vale and Suzano, in Maranhão, as well as to Pernambuco state’s gas distribution utility Copergás. 

Through Copergás’ pipelines, the fuel will reach, for example, the ceramics hub in Petrolina. 

The LNG plant will also be able to supply trucks that bring production from the MaPiToBa cluster to the port of Itaqui, in Maranhão. Formed by the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia, the cluster is the country's fastest growing agricultural frontier. 

NEW CONTRACT 

Eneva has signed a natural gas purchase and sale agreement with Neoenergia to supply 100% flexible natural gas to the Termopernambuco plant in Pernambuco, it said in a disclosure. 

The contract will start next month and end in June 2026. Termopernambuco will be able to request up to 2.4Mm3/d of gas from Eneva to meet ONS dispatches. 

The contract considers a fixed part, to pay for the FSRU capacity reserve and ensure the availability of gas for Termopernambuco, and a variable part, linked to the LNG Japan/Korea Marker price index to pay for the gas that will be requested in the event of dispatch.

Natural gas will be supplied from LNG imported at the Sergipe hub, through the FSRU, which has the capacity to regasify up to 21Mm3/d of natural gas and the capacity to inject up to 14Mm3/d of natural gas into the integrated pipeline network.