In June 2026, Brazil's federal government split the country's first battery storage auction into two competitions. One is reserved for systems with domestic content. The other is open to the remaining projects. The decision turned localization into a market-access variable with its own schedule, documentation and industrial framework.
MME Normative Ordinance 136 set separate tenders for December and a supply start on August 1, 2028. Domestic projects will be evaluated against the BNDES CFI system. Alongside price, power and grid connection, investors must now define what will be produced in Brazil and how that production will be proven.
Two auctions create two routes to market
The 2026 National Storage LRCAP trades the 2028 A capacity product. Participation requires a storage system that meets BNDES minimum localization requirements. The 2026 Storage LRCAP trades the 2028 B product and allows systems without that industrial condition.
The order carries an industrial-policy signal. The national auction occurs first, and procurement in the open auction takes domestic productive capacity into account. The structure gives domestic supply economic priority before the remaining demand is completed with other configurations.
When announcing the rules, Minister Alexandre Silveira connected the auction to system security and industrial development, emphasizing domestic production of strategic equipment for the energy transition.
The industrial framework sits with BNDES
The CFI system accredits suppliers and products. For storage, the rules identify eight system blocks: battery pack, energy-management system, EMS software and design, inverter, climate control, enclosure, electrical elements and fire protection.
The full system may be accredited by a manufacturer or engineering company. The responsible party assumes information and audit obligations, including records on input purchases and sales. For projects that win the national auction, contract execution depends on supporting documentation issued under the BNDES framework.
Localization follows a progressive roadmap
The current framework for stationary systems uses rising requirements. Through the end of 2027, the general rule requires minimum structure and accreditation indices of 15%. From 2028 through 2030, both indices rise to 25%. From 2031, they reach 30% and 45%, accompanied by a denser production route.
The battery follows its own sequence. Pack assembly enters in 2026, module assembly in 2027 and cell assembly in 2029. From 2031, the rule calls for cell assembly with at least one domestic input and one domestic chemical component in the active material.
The first mandatory industrial layer for battery accreditation.
Production advances to an earlier stage of battery architecture.
The requirement reaches the electrochemical core of the product.
The cell incorporates Brazilian raw material and a domestic chemical component.
The structure permits earlier progression. A manufacturer may advance through the industrial route, beginning with the pack, or the mineral route, beginning with domestic production of an input or chemical component. Localization therefore becomes a choice of architecture, investment and partnership.
LRCAP, CFI, PPB and PADIS perform different functions
LRCAP procures capacity availability for the power system. CFI verifies domestic production and local content in the equipment. PPB defines minimum manufacturing steps for specific industrial policies. PADIS qualifies activities established by law and links benefits to R&D investment and other obligations.
These instruments meet in the same project and retain separate legal functions. A company may have a BNDES-accredited product and still need to resolve its PADIS route. It may qualify for PADIS without meeting the configuration required for the national auction. It may assemble the system in Brazil while relying on foreign suppliers for components that count differently under the local-content framework.
What must be decided before the auction
- Select the target product
The battery, integrated system and capacity service have their own technical and regulatory perimeters.
- Define the local-content route
Pack, modules, cells, software, inverter and domestic components change the score, schedule and CAPEX.
- Qualify critical suppliers
The index depends on components, documents, contracts and demonstrable productive capacity.
- Coordinate CFI, PPB and PADIS
Each process needs an owner, schedule, normative source and evidence package.
- Plan the path beyond 2028
The configuration that enables the first contract must accommodate rising requirements through 2031.
The auction defines demand. The factory determines how much of that demand becomes sustainable domestic production over the contract term.
Localization has become a market condition
LRCAP created a concrete opening for systems manufactured in Brazil. BNDES translated that opening into progressive requirements. PADIS adds an industrial-policy and R&D layer. Competitive projects will coordinate all three agendas from the engineering stage.
The public calendar is already running. Strategy starts with a production configuration capable of reaching 2028 and remaining valid afterwards.
Legal and institutional sources
- MME Normative Ordinance 136/2026Creates the two auctions and links the national tender to the CFI system.
- Official MME announcementObjectives, dates and ministerial statement.
- EPE guidance for storage LRCAPProject registration, technical qualification and operation start.
- Current BNDES CFI regulationsOfficial methodologies for systems and batteries.
- Stationary storage system rulesComponents, indices and progressive accreditation stages.
- ASCL battery rulesProgression for packs, modules, cells and inputs.
- Electric accumulators under PADISMeridian analysis of qualification, benefits and industrial decisions.
Informational content with a baseline of August 25, 2026. Tender rules, technical qualification, schedule and documentation should be confirmed in current MME, EPE, ANEEL, CCEE and BNDES publications.