Brazil seeks comment on targets for Amazon isolated power systems

Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) opened a public consultation on October 23 over proposed 2030 and 2035 targets for its Amazon Energies Program. The proposal calls for greenhouse-gas emissions from isolated power systems to fall 65.7% by 2030 and 75.9% by 2035. It also proposes reducing fossil-fuel consumption by 70.2% and 73.3%, respectively, and cutting total electricity-generation costs in those systems by 55.5% and 60.1%. These are policy targets submitted for comment, not achieved reductions.

The program addresses towns and settlements that are not connected to Brazil’s National Interconnected System (SIN) and rely on local generation. MME’s program overview says isolated systems serve more than 3.1 million people. Distance, fuel logistics and local generation infrastructure shape both cost and supply security. The targets therefore depend not only on changing generation technologies but also on connecting isolated communities to the SIN and integrating them into the wider grid.

The ministry lists renewable generation, hybrid solutions that can retain fossil generation where needed, energy storage and expanded transmission links among the possible tools. Its announcement says the technical scenarios drew on observed results in the 2022 Plan for Supplying Isolated Systems (PASI). It does not publish the comparison baseline used for the emissions and cost reductions or starting values for individual systems. The percentages should not be read as a claim that all Amazon electricity production will fall by those amounts.

MME identifies delayed transmission links, construction logistics in remote areas and the availability of infrastructure investment as risks to achieving the proposed targets. It also flags a possible loss of investment appeal for renewables and storage, as well as changes to procurement rules for isolated systems. Those risks underline that delivery depends on public-procurement design, investment schedules and local access as well as equipment costs.

The consultation precedes a final decision by the National Energy Policy Council (CNPE). Companies, researchers, public bodies, civil-society organizations and local communities can submit comments through November 11. MME says it will review the contributions and send a consolidated proposal to the council. The 2030 and 2035 targets have therefore not yet been adopted or funded as a final package.

Assessing the program’s eventual effect will require regular publication of system-level generation mix, fuel use, cost and grid-connection data alongside the final targets. The current announcement presents an aggregate proposal for isolated systems and does not set out separate investment or emissions pathways for individual settlements. Which projects proceed and how local reliability is maintained will become clearer only after public comments and the CNPE decision.