Offshore Wind Energy – Federal Government Sets Rules for Power Generation in Seas and Rivers

The Published Decree Brings Guidelines On How And Where License Applications Will Be Presented, As Well As Instructing The Entrepreneur On How To Build The Venture

A presidential decree was published this Wednesday, January 26, 2022, in the Official Federal Gazette, proclaiming the use of rivers and the sea to generate offshore wind energy. The aim of the initiative is to take advantage of locations where the wind is more constant and has higher speeds in order to produce renewable energy.

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This type of investment has a high return in Brazil, as the country experiences the incidence of trade winds – the subtropical winds that blow towards the equator – over a good portion of its coast, especially in the Northeast Region. Other factors that make the application of offshore wind energy favorable include the size of its coastline and maritime space under its jurisdiction, with the latter totaling 3.5 million km².

Decree No. 10,946 provides “for the licensing of the use of physical spaces and the utilization of natural resources in inland waters under the Union’s jurisdiction, in territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf for the generation of electric energy from offshore ventures,” defining how the ventures must be conducted.

In addition, the published document also provides guidelines on how and where license applications will be presented, as well as instructing the entrepreneur on how to build the venture.

Concession For Use

According to the presidential decree, the concession for the use of Union waters will be carried out in two ways: through Planned Licensing, which is defined by the offering of previously designated prisms by the Ministry of Mines and Energy to potential candidates; and through Independent Licensing, which refers to the licensing of prisms requested by initiative of candidates interested in using them.

In this regard, the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic stated that, after the use concession is acquired, the entrepreneur will have the contractual obligation to carry out “the necessary studies to identify the potential offshore energy, complying with the criteria and deadlines set in a specific act from the MME.”

The secretariat also informed that the objective of the decree is to clarify persistent doubts from public institutions, entrepreneurs, specialists, and organizations regarding the regulatory framework that aims to explore offshore wind energy in Brazil under the concession regime.

“The decree brings clarity to the mechanisms of licensing the use of areas in inland waters, in the territorial sea, dividing the procedures between the Secretariat of Coordination and Governance of the Union’s Heritage (SPU) of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME),” states the presidential agency.

The presidential decree on the implementation of offshore wind energy also gives the Ministry of Mines and Energy the possibility to grant the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) the rights to sign use concession contracts, formalizing what is necessary for its application, in order to streamline the process as much as possible.