State Grid Corp. of China was the biggest winner at Brazil’s auction for 21.7 billion reais ($4.4 billion) in transmission lines on Friday, which will help connect renewable-power projects to major population centers, reports Caixin. The Chinese utility took the biggest project, and other winners include Celeo Redes Transmissao de Energia SA and Olympus XVI, a consortium backed by Alupar Investimento SA and Mercury Investments Participacoes SA.
It was Brazil’s largest auction yet for power lines and followed a similar one in June, where 15.7 billion reais in contracts were awarded. “Brazil is consolidating as a protagonist in the global energy transition,” Mines and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira said at the event. “Brazil wants to use this energy to reindustrialize the country.”
The shift to a low-carbon economy will require the world to expand and upgrade transmission lines so they can handle intermittent renewable power.