Brazil's EPE expects data center electricity demand to reach 20 GW in ten years

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Thiago Ivanoski, director of the Department of Economic Energy and Environmental Studies at Brazil's Energy Research Company (EPE, Empresa de Pesquisa Energética), stated on Tuesday (18th) at an event held by FGV Energia in Rio de Janeiro that the agency expects energy demand from data centers alone to reach 20 gigawatts (GW) in ten years.

Ivanoski cited as an example that this load is 1.5 times the current maximum electricity consumption in Brazil's Northeast region. A jointly updated forecast by EPE, Brazil's National Electric System Operator (ONS, Operador Nacional do Sistema Elétrico), and the Brazilian Electricity Trading Chamber (CCEE, Câmara de Comercialização de Energia Elétrica) shows that this load will reach 5.6 GW by 2030, having surged by 2.2 GW in just four months—the largest increase in that period; the previous four-month interval saw an increase of 500 megawatts (MW).

Ivanoski noted that a 500 MW increase in four months was already substantial and surprised the agency, but a 2 GW increase in four months is even more striking. He reiterated that the number of projects continues to grow and that Brazil's data center market remains robust.

Ivanoski expects that once Bill No. 278/2026 (PL, Projeto de Lei), which establishes the Special Tax Regime for Data Center Services (Redata, Regime Especial de Tributação para Serviços de Data Center), is approved, this market trend will intensify, potentially bringing projects forward—with the load increase originally expected in ten years arriving five years earlier. Redata promotes the construction of data centers in the country through federal tax incentives.

Regarding the figure in the Ten-Year Energy Expansion Plan (PDE 2035, Plano Decenal de Expansão de Energia) projecting 26 GW of load from data centers alone within ten years, Ivanoski downplayed it, arguing that these forecasts are adjusted over time and that such discrepancies do not indicate waning interest in data centers.