Ascenty가 브라질 Campinas의 150MW 데이터 센터에 대한 환경 승인을 확보했다.

Ascenty has secured a permanent access opinion from Brazil's national grid operator, ONS, to connect a new 150MW data center in Campinas, in the interior of São Paulo state, to the transmission grid. The connection will be made at the 500kV busbar of the Campinas substation, owned by Axia Energia. According to ONS's assessment, the facility is expected to require 150MW between January and December 2029, rising to 288MW from January 2030 onward. The connection is scheduled for January 2029 via a new 500kV transmission line, approximately 2km long, linking the Campinas substation to a substation Ascenty will build itself.

While ONS concluded that the data center's start-up should not overload the region's grid on its own, the analysis identified a pre-existing grid vulnerability. Poor voltage quality is already expected on a 440kV stretch between the Salto, Cabreúva and Bom Jardim substations, and on a 500kV stretch between Fernão Dias, Campinas and Itatiba. The Ascenty connection would worsen these conditions. ONS's prescribed solution is the start-up of the planned 500/345kV Santana substation, which is already included in the first release of the 2025 electricity transmission concessions plan but has yet to be tendered. Notably, the opinion expressly ties the Ascenty connection to completion of the Santana project—a condition that also appears in the transmission system usage contract (CUST) already signed by ONS, the grid concessionaires and Ascenty, where the 150MW contracted for 2029 are listed as "conditional."

Going forward, Ascenty must submit a financial guarantee to ONS, formalize the CUST within the regulatory deadline, and obtain authorization from the energy regulator Aneel. Axia must assess the connection's feasibility and sign the transmission connection contract with Ascenty. Distributor CPFL Paulista will need to evaluate any required reinforcements to its network resulting from the new load.

Ascenty's access request was filed with the mines and energy ministry in March 2025, predating the December 2025 decree establishing Brazil's National Transmission System Access Policy (Pnast). The new rule waived the requirement for ministerial approval, directing pending requests to ONS for direct review. The MME subsequently forwarded 94 access requests to ONS, including Ascenty's. Due to data inconsistencies, Ascenty's request was refiled in ONS's system in January 2026 by GSI Engenharia e Consultoria, the company's representative in the process.

Ascenty has simultaneously obtained access opinions for new data centers in Vinhedo. The first opinion covers Vinhedo 1 and 2, projecting 75MW demand from January 2029. A second opinion for Vinhedo 3, 4 and 5 projects 72MW from May 2029, rising to 180MW from 2030. Combined, the two requests position Ascenty's Vinhedo capacity at 147MW by 2029 and 255MW from 2030—comparable to the Campinas facility itself. Unlike Campinas, the Vinhedo connection will tap into the 500kV Itatiba–Bateias transmission line managed by Mata de Santa Genebra (controlled by Copel), with all five units sharing the same connection infrastructure. As with Campinas, ONS determined that the Vinhedo connection worsens the same regional voltage problem and made it conditional on the Santana substation's commissioning.

In May 2026, Ascenty—a joint venture between Digital Realty and Brookfield Infrastructure—announced US$1.2 billion in investment for four new data centers in Brazil, in addition to R$900 million (US$165 million) already earmarked for starting up SP05 and beginning construction on SP06 in greater São Paulo. The flagship project is Sumaré 3, described as Brazil's first large-scale data center designed from inception for artificial intelligence applications. It will feature 90MW of initial capacity—expandable to 180MW—with liquid cooling and construction began in March for third-quarter 2027 delivery. Of that capacity, 60MW is already contracted to a single global technology client. The investment package also includes the 90MW Vinhedo 3 facility and planning for Vinhedo 4 and 5 at 45MW each, as well as expansion of Vinhedo 2 from 50MW to 80MW. Ascenty projects the investment will add 150MW of contracted capacity within 18 months, representing a 40% increase on everything the company has built over 15 years of operation.

Brazil is on track for its strongest year on record for new data center supply, with 106MW delivered in the first half of 2026 and a further 134MW expected by year-end. The country now has approximately 706MW of installed capacity, nearly half of all Latin America's supply. Campinas accounts for 316MW of that total—behind only the São Paulo/Barueri cluster—and remains the nation's hottest market, with just 1% vacancy and 867% growth since 2019, supported by some of Brazil's most competitive pricing for large clients. Nationally, Ascenty holds roughly 30% of operating colocation capacity, ahead of Odata at 20% and Scala at 18%, according to consultancy JLL.