en.Wedoany.com Reported - Brazil's National Electric System Operator (ONS) forecasts that data center projects will increase the country's load demand (requested peak power) from 355 MW in 2026 to 3.55 GW by 2030. Total energy load (a parameter measuring the electricity consumed by these units over time) is expected to jump from 304 MW average (MWmed) this year to 3,457 MW average by 2030.

The above estimates consider contracted basic network data center access requests and a 50% success rate for units that have received favorable access requests. ONS data shows there are currently 22 signed contracts and 18 applicants.

According to the 2026 Energy Operations Plan (PEN), the current data center energy load is 299 MW average. By 2028, contracted projects will rise to 1,595 MW average, and projects with favorable access opinions will reach 222 MW average. By 2030, these figures will be 2,248 MW average and 1,208 MW average, respectively. ONS states that these data center loads will be concentrated in the Southeast/Midwest, Northeast, and Southern subsystems.

Despite the significant growth in data center load, the expected annual growth rate of Brazil's total system energy load (4.2%, with a cumulative 17.9% over five years) is lower than the figure in the previous PEN. Compared to the previous PEN, the nominal value of total load up to 2029 has decreased by 1.5% in demand and 0.6% in energy. ONS technicians point out that this is related to milder temperatures since last year and again in the first quarter of this year, which mainly affected the 2026 forecast. Total load is still influenced by factors such as ongoing macroeconomic conditions, the emergence of data centers (affecting commercial consumption), increased equipment procurement, distributed generation boosting residential consumption, and the connection of Roraima state to the Northern subsystem.