Senate approves legal framework for offshore wind power generation

The Senate Infrastructure Committee approved this Wednesday (17) a bill that creates a regulatory framework for offshore electricity generation — the generation of wind, solar and tidal energy off the Brazilian coast.

The proposal was approved by the senators of the commission on a final basis. This means that it will not need to be voted on in plenary — unless there is a request from a senator to do so — and will be forwarded directly to the Chamber of Deputies.

The approved bill is authored by Senator Jean Paul Prates (PT-RN), Senate minority leader, and was reported by Senate government leader Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ). The text establishes concepts and provides guidelines for the transfer of rights to explore offshore energy in a given area to the private sector. The main source of energy to be explored is wind, but the possibility of installing panels to capture solar energy is also mentioned.

“This project is not limited to wind energy at sea, it deals with the ownership of the territorial sea, continental shelf, exclusive economic zone and other internal bodies of water, including: ponds, lakes, water mirrors, for the use of energy generation . I usually say that this project is ready for anything that is still invented using the force of the sea, the waves, the wind in the sea, etc”, said Prates.

“But, obviously, today it stands out in the sense of allowing this new immediate horizon of investments, which is that of offshore wind energy, that is, the generation of energy from the wind inside the sea, in the Brazilian sea. we needed a legal framework, because it is a whole set of public goods in which there is a need for total legal certainty for investors to make their vast investments”, he added.

This transfer can take place in two ways. One of them occurs when an interested party requests authorization from the government to explore the energy potential in a given prism. It will be necessary to present preliminary studies that show the conditions and a preview of the environmental impact.

The other modality is when the public power offers certain areas —called prisms — through an auction, in a process that is similar to concessions for the exploration of oil fields.

The judgment criteria that will be taken into account in the auction will be the highest value offered and the lowest electricity tariff to the consumer, when applicable.

One of the points of great discussion during the proceedings was the issue of royalties, the remuneration for the Union. The initial proposal originally predicted 3% to 5%, but there was market pressure to reduce it, in order to make the concession more attractive. The rapporteur then reduced it to 1.5%, which is included in the approved text.

This amount will be divided among several entities, half of which will be destined for the Union. States where the retro-areas connecting the National Interconnected System will be will receive 12.5%, the same proportion for municipalities in these conditions. Another 10% will be allocated to states and the Federal District, apportioned in proportion to the State Participation Fund, and 10% to municipalities, apportioned in proportion to the Municipalities Participation Fund.

Concessionaires must notify the ANP (National Petroleum Agency) of the discovery of evidence of any deposit of oil, natural gas, other hydrocarbons or other minerals of commercial or strategic interest.

In the same session, the members of the commission approved another final project that limits the transfer, to the consumer, of losses due to theft of electric energy. This limit will be established by the regulatory agency.

The initial proposal prohibited any transfer of non-technical losses to the tariffs paid by consumers, but it was amended at the suggestion of Jorginho Mello (PL-SC).