Renewable energy companies fuel Brazilian data center boom, investigation finds

Renewable energy companies are driving most of Brazil’s plans for new data centers, according to a recent joint analysis by The Intercept Brasil and Mongabay. As of December 2025 there were 68 requests to connect data centers to Brazil’s national power grid with 65% registered by renewable energy companies, including wind and solar power plants, the investigation found. Brazil produces more renewable energy than it can distribute across its territory, and the national power grid cannot always absorb all the power generated by renewable energy plants. Doing so would cause disruptions in provision, and potentially even blackouts. To avoid this, the national grid operator frequently orders plants to halt production. In the first half of 2025 such measures cost power generators an estimated 3.2 billion reais ($617 million). One solar plant was forced to cut production by nearly 40% in 2025. Renewable energy companies argue that data centers, which constantly demand large amounts of energy, can provide more stability and income for the renewable energy sector. The Brazilian government has been actively seeking deals with big tech companies, advertising Brazil as an environmentally friendly host for data centers. On Sept. 15, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a law exempting data centers from several taxes on equipment purchases if they meet water efficiency criteria and use renewable or low-emission energy. In April 2026, Brazil’s foreign trade agency, Apex, organized a roundtable in the U.S. to attract foreign investment for sustainable data centers. “Renewable energy companies are able to sign long-term power purchase agreements with data centers and Big Tech firms,” Mikaelle Farias, a climate activist and renewable energy engineer at the Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil, told Mongabay and The Intercept Brasil. “This guarantees the sale of that surplus for 15 or 20 years without needing to feed it into the interconnected grid or losing the energy.” However, the rollout of data centers raises problems for local communities. For example, a wind power company in the northeastern state of Bahia asked to connect their plant to nine data centers. The area is home to a Quilombola community, a traditional territory founded by enslaved and formerly enslaved Afro-Brazilians. In fact, at least 29 municipalities with plans for data centers are home to protected Quilombola communities or Indigenous communities working to have their land officially demarcated, the investigation found. Some analysts argue that renewable energy should be used to meet domestic energy needs, not feed Big Tech’s data center demand. “Companies say, ‘Look how we are unlocking this renewable energy,’ but they don’t specify the intended use,” climate analyst Ketan Joshi said. “Why didn’t you build a transmission line or a battery or something to have that energy be used by society and to displace fossil fuels?” Read the full story here. Banner image: Wind farm complex in Gentio do Ouro, Bahia, where dozens of data centers are planned. Image by Thomas Bauer/Intercept Brasil and Mongabay. Credits Topics