Brazil has finally published the guidelines for its long-awaited first auction for stand-alone BESS projects. Through Regulatory Ordinance MME No. 136/2026 , the government confirmed that the procurement will be carried out through two separate tenders taking place on December 2nd and 4th, 2026.
The first call, called LRCAP of 2026 – National Stockpile , will be held on December 2nd and will be exclusively for systems that meet the minimum national content criteria established by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES).
While two days later the 2026 LRCAP – Armazenamento will take place, open to projects without nationalization requirements.
The selected projects will have access to 15-year contracts , with supply starting on August 1, 2028. Remuneration will be made through an annual Fixed Payment , paid in 12 monthly installments and updated each year according to the IPCA index.
However, developers will fully assume the risk associated with the dispatch carried out by the National Electric System Operator (ONS). The regulations stipulate that there will be no additional revenue from the operator's use of the contracted systems; therefore, all remuneration will be concentrated in the payment for power availability.
The official timeline anticipates that project registration with the Energy Research Company (EPE) will take place between June 15 and July 31, 2026. Exceptionally, the submission of environmental licenses will not be a requirement for initial technical authorization, while the deadlines for obtaining these permits will be defined later for the successful bidders.
The definition puts an end to more than a year of regulatory uncertainty, as the mechanism accumulated successive postponements and, although its launch was initially expected during April of this year, versions about possible postponements until July 2026 and even the beginning of 2027 were circulating in the market.
The plan comes at a time of increasing operational pressure on the Brazilian electricity grid. In 2025 alone, nearly 20% of available solar and wind power generation went unused due to system constraints, with estimated losses of 6.5 billion Brazilian reais. Average cuts reached 4,021 MW, a capacity equivalent to a large hydroelectric plant.
Undefined capacity to auction
Although the government has released the guidelines, one of the relevant aspects is that the contracting does not yet have a defined volume, given that the ordinance states that "the amount of power will be determined later by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, in coordination with the EPE and the ONS, considering the needs of the SIN."
The definition is being closely watched by the market because Brazil will need to add approximately 38 GW of new power by 2034. Industry sources believe that an initial contract of between 1 and 2 GW would be sufficient to begin providing operational flexibility to the system and reduce some of the restrictions that currently affect renewable energy.
Technical requirements and advantages for strategic locations
The technical conditions established by the MME set a minimum power of 30 MW per project , a requirement that will function as a participation threshold for systems competing in the tenders.
Furthermore, the assets must exclusively use new batteries and guarantee a continuous discharge for four hours at full contracted power. They must also achieve a minimum overall efficiency of 85% during the contract period and complete a full recharge within a maximum of six hours.
Among the most important requirements is the incorporation of grid-forming functionalities, a technology that contributes to grid stability in systems with high penetration of variable renewable generation. The equipment must also remain synchronized and available to the system even when not uploading or downloading energy.
The regulation limits operations to a maximum of two complete cycles per day and up to 366 cycles per year. Furthermore, the declared Unit Variable Cost (UVC) must be equal to zero.
The ordinance also includes incentives for projects located in areas considered strategic for the National Interconnected System (SIN). Developments connected to nodes identified by studies from the EPE (Provincial Energy Company) and the ONS (National Office of Standardization) will be eligible for a location bonus, which will improve their competitiveness during the selection process.
The mechanism seeks to prioritize investments capable of alleviating transmission constraints, reinforcing critical areas of the network, increasing operational reliability and providing greater systemic benefits.
Defined regulations
The publication of these guidelines comes just one day after the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) approved specific regulations for energy storage systems. Among other measures, the agency defined a differential tariff treatment for facilities operated under the coordination of the National Grid Operator (ONS), which will only pay grid usage charges when they deliver energy to the system, while battery charging will be exempt from these costs.