Chinese energy firms say Brazil must clarify rules or face loss of investments

Senior Chinese energy executives have called on Brazil to fix its regulatory framework and provide long-term predictability, warning that delays could hamper billions of dollars in green investment.

The requests for transparency came on Thursday during a panel discussion at the Energy Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where representatives from the State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) and China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC) said that Brazil risked falling behind unless it acted quickly to clarify rules for energy storage and long-term concessions.

China has become one of Brazil’s biggest energy investors, pouring US$1.73 billion into the sector in 2023, a 33 per cent rise from the previous year, with roughly 72 per cent of confirmed projects focusing on wind, solar and other clean technologies, according to the Brazil-China Business Council.

Since 2007, Chinese firms have invested a total of US$73.3 billion in Brazil generally, making it the fourth-largest destination globally for Chinese capital.

“Today we have the technology, the capital and the interest, but we lack a stable and predictable framework for energy storage in Brazil,” said Marcelo Taulois, deputy chief executive and chief development officer of CEEC Brazil. He warned that delays were putting billions of dollars of investment at risk.

Taulois said that a long-awaited framework for battery storage, announced in December, had been put on hold despite strong interest from more than 60 developers.