| Work Detail |
Between May and August, ten new projects began the access process with the Ministry of Mines and Energy. So far, 22 projects registered in the states of São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte and Bahia have already requested access to the transmission system.
Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) has registered a growth in demand for Data Center projects with open processes for access to the Basic Network underway at the ministry. Applications for this segment indicate a peak demand that could reach 9 GW in 2035, considering 22 projects registered in the states of São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte and Bahia. In May this year, 12 projects had already requested access to the transmission system for data centers, with a peak demand of 2.5 GW by 2037, i.e. a 3.6-fold increase in the space of just four months.
The process begins with the request to the MME for an analysis of the initial connection proposal, which certifies the lowest overall cost solution. Once the MME has given its approval, the interested party can begin to request an access opinion from the ONS, a stage that precedes the signing of the contract for use of the transmission system.
"The growth of the data center sector in Brazil demonstrates our ability to consolidate ourselves as a technological hub in South America, driven by a robust and predominantly renewable electrical system. The MME, together with the Energy Research Company (EPE), has been working to ensure that our electrical infrastructure can support this digital transformation, offering ideal conditions for new investments," says Minister Alexandre Silveira.
Digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI), with their increasing demand for data processing capacity, have boosted the number of data centres worldwide, thereby increasing energy demand. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global electricity consumption by data centres reached 460 TWh in 2022 and could increase to 1,050 TWh by 2026. The global data centre market, valued at US$329.3 billion in 2023, is expected to reach US$438.6 billion by 2028, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.6%.
Brazil is positioned to increase its share in this market because it has a mostly renewable electricity matrix, more than 90%. The abundance of water, another input required to cool data processing centers, could also be one of the countrys differentials to attract new investments. |
