Brazil's Transmission Auction Awards All 8 Lots at 50.10% Discount

Brazil's electricity regulator ANEEL sold all eight lots of Transmission Auction No. 4/2026 on Oct. 30, with winning bids 50.10% below the ceiling revenue and R$8.8 billion in investment committed, the agency said.

The winners offered annual allowed revenue (RAP) totaling R$811.1 million, against a ceiling of about R$1.625 billion set by ANEEL. RAP is the yearly payment that remunerates a transmission owner for building and running its assets over a 30-year concession. ANEEL put the saving for consumers over the life of the contracts at R$20.7 billion. Lusa, the Portuguese news agency, reported that Spanish companies or Spanish-controlled groups took seven of the eight lots.

What was auctioned

The package covers 1,866 km of new transmission lines, continued operation of another 483 km of existing lines, and substations adding 12,694 MVA of transformation capacity, in Bahia, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraíba, Paraná, Rondônia and São Paulo, ANEEL said. Deadlines for commercial operation run from 42 to 60 months after contract signing. Canal Solar, citing the schedule, reported that contracts are planned for February 2027, which puts the new assets in service between August 2030 and February 2032.

Celeo Redes won Lot 4, the largest, with a RAP of R$377.09 million a year and a 50.55% discount, according to Times Brasil and Canal Solar. Times Brasil put the lot at R$4.11 billion of investment, 1,167 km of lines and 3,600 MVA across Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraná. Celeo also won Lot 8 in Rondônia, which covers synchronous condensers at the Coletora Porto Velho 500/230 kV substation, with a RAP of R$66.66 million and a 48.02% discount.

Neoenergia Transmissão won Lot 1 in Bahia (RAP R$59.85 million, 51.21% discount) and Lot 7 in Paraíba (R$68 million, 38.55%, the thinnest discount of the day). Cymi took Lot 3 in São Paulo (R$78.70 million, 57.08%), a substation and connections to serve central São Paulo, and Lot 5 in Paraná (R$96.4 million, 46.36%), which serves the Curitiba area. Cox Brasil won Lot 6 in Paraná at R$37.85 million and a 53.46% discount.

EDP's lot in Goiás and Bahia

EDP won Lot 2 with a RAP of R$26.53 million and a 53.29% discount, in a project the company puts at R$316.9 million of investment in Goiás and Bahia, according to Lusa. The lot includes a 230/138 kV substation with 300 MVA of transformation, and EDP has 48 months to build it. The company said it operates 2,032 km of transmission lines in Brazil and plans about R$3.7 billion of investment in new transmission projects over 2026 to 2028. The sources give different line lengths for this lot (Times Brasil cites 126 km from the research agency EPE, Lusa cites 65 km), so this report leaves the figure out.

Why it matters for grid capacity

The 12,694 MVA is substation transformation capacity, the equipment that steps power down to the regional networks that feed large loads. The auction results do not mention data centers, and no source tied any lot to them. The relevant read-across is for the supply chain and for pricing: with bids at half the ceiling, developers are betting they can build and finance these assets for far less revenue than the regulator expected, and the 42-to-60-month build windows will show whether those bids hold up against equipment and construction costs.

Voltgrid News reported earlier on Ofgem's OFTO tender for the Hornsea 3 offshore link, another competitive transmission tender, and on AEP's $37 billion transmission capital plan.

What is not confirmed yet

Times Brasil noted that the results still go through qualification and contracting steps set in the tender rules, so the awards are not final until ANEEL completes them. The discount measures the cut in the revenue ceiling; it is not an equal cut in consumers' power bills, which depends on how much of system revenue the new assets represent. Investment figures are ANEEL's estimates for the whole portfolio and differ slightly between sources, at R$8.8 billion in ANEEL's results release and R$8.9 billion in other reports. Lusa's tally of Spanish ownership is not itemized by lot in the reports reviewed.