Government authorizes two more companies to import energy from Venezuela

The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) authorized two more Brazilian companies to import electricity from Venezuela. This energy will be used to supply the state of Roraima, which is still an isolated system, with no connection to the National Interconnected System (SIN).

Bolt Energy Comercializadora de Energia and Tradener were authorized by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), through two ordinances, published this Monday (15). In addition to them, Âmbar Comercializadora de Energia was already authorized – but has not yet started importing.

The permissions are part of a decree that the government issued last year allowing the import of electrical energy to serve isolated systems, by reducing the Fuel Consumption Bill (CCC).

The ordinances do not show the values ​​offered by these companies. The rule is that, to be elected, the importer has to obtain a value below the Brazilian market and the best for the end consumer.

The MME told the People’s Gazette that import values ​​must be lower than those practiced in the Roraima system and that “the company that presents the most advantageous value to the consumer will be able to import”.

Imports depend on the approval of the Electricity Sector Monitoring Committee (CMSE) regarding price, volume and any additional guidelines.

In the case of Âmbar, the value of imported energy will be around R$900 per megawatt-hour (MWh). It is less than what was spent on diesel thermoelectric plants in Roraima (approximately R$1,700 per MWh), but much more than what Brazil paid until 2019, when supply was interrupted – the previous contract was R$127 for the first ten years of supply and R$137 for the following decade.

According to Âmbar, although the amount charged in this new contract is higher than it was previously, the cost of importing Venezuelan energy will be R$1 billion lower than what is currently spent on generating energy in Roraima thermoelectric plants.

Until the authorizations published this Monday, Âmbar Energia had been the only company to qualify for the resumption of electricity transmission from Venezuela to Roraima. It belongs to the brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista, JBS advisors and prisoners in Operation Lava-Jato.

Amber, however, has not yet started bringing energy from Venezuela. The reason is that it carried out a 96-hour uninterrupted test on the transmission line between Brazil and Venezuela.

“They have to do a continuous 96-hour test and they haven’t been able to do this test yet. We have already passed this condition on to the entrepreneur. The dates for these tests have already passed a few times”, stated Luiz Carlos Ciocchi, general director of the National Electric System Operator (ONS), at the end of March.

The import model adopted for interconnection with Venezuela is similar to that already successfully practiced in the case of Uruguay and Argentina. Companies undergo an analysis of technical and documentary requirements, and respond to the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel).