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Brazil completed the bidding process to export up to 70% of the electricity needed by Uruguay. The announcement of the name of the winning firm, Tradener Ltda., from the state of Paraná, puts the final touches on the arrangement.
The plan was worked out on February 9 at a meeting of government representatives from Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina, at the headquarters of the Electric Energy Commercialization Chamber (CCEE) and finalized February 23. According to the note released by the Chamber, seven firms submitted bids, and the winning bid carries a charge of R$ 0.18 per MWh (megawatt hour) acquired on the domestic market. This price refers solely "to the administrative fee charged by the commercial supplier, to which the cost of electricity and other expenses of the system will be added." The amount of energy to be exported will be limited to the system's 700 MWh of interruptible transmission capacity. Transmission will begin the first week of March, on the basis of a six-month contract extendable through December. The exported energy will preferentially be generated by a thermoelectric plant that is not being used to supply the domestic market. The contract also provides for supplying energy from hydroelectric sources, "only when there exists overflow energy potential in the reservoirs of the Brazilian system." Moreover, "mechanisms should be established to ensure that the energy to be exported does not affect the electro-energetic security of the Brazilian electric power system." The document also provides that "access will be guaranteed to the transmission systems, in both the basic grid and the private network, to make it feasible to export at the least possible cost." The president of the CCEE administrative council, Antônio Carlos Fraga Machado, affirms in the note that "the bidding process is the result of a decision by the Brazilian and Uruguayan governments, following an understanding with the government of Argentina, the country which will intermediate the transmission." He goes on to inform that, through the contract, Uruguay will be able to supply up to 70% of its market. The bidding process was overseen by representatives of the Uruguay National Administration of Electric Plants and Transmissions (UTE), the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Brazilian National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL), and the CCEE. The final result still depends on a ruling by the UTE. Agência Brasil
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Plus other costs...make Uruguay electricity as high as in MOST developed countries, while the country has only a tiny comparable GDP per capita !