Odata invested in an Omega Energia wind park to secure renewable power supply for its data center operations.

Brazil-based datacenter group Odata acquired a minority stake in energy company Omega Energia's 212MW Assuruá IV wind farm, located in Bahia state's Xique-Xique municipality, to supply renewable energy to its datacenters. With the investment, Odata claims to become the first datacenter hyperscaler in Latin America to have 100% of the power consumption of its sites coming from direct participation in renewable energy projects. Other datacenter groups have renewable energy supply agreements for their facilities, but without direct investment in the capital stock of energy companies. "We're probably going to be one of the first datacenter companies on the planet to actually generate its own clean energy. We're becoming a self-generator of energy," Odata CEO Ricardo Alário told BNamericas.

Odata did not disclose the exact stake acquired or the purchase price, nor specified how much of the energy produced in Assuruá IV would be committed to its own usage. The company projects that it will be able to stop emitting approximately 125,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere by 2035 with the Assuruá supply. "Our commitment to ESG goes back a long way, and now we are taking another step forward by signing this agreement for the consumption of renewable energy, through a partnership in an Omega Energia wind farm," Alário told BNamericas. Odata, recently acquired by US group Aligned Data Centers, is present in four countries in Latin America with three datacenters operating in Brazil, one in Colombia, one in Mexico, and another in Chile, plus four more sites under construction. Its operational sites have some 460MW of capacity.

Prior to this deal, 85–90% of the energy Odata used in its operations was renewable, either through PPAs or green certificates, according to Alário. The closing of the transaction remains subject to customary approvals, including clearance by Brazil's antitrust regulator Cade, with the company requesting approval on February 15. Aligned Data Centers CEO Andrew Schapp emphasized the significance of Odata's renewable energy strategy: "Going through this process, when we saw what the Odata team was doing with its self-generation … I mean, quite frankly, we don't know of anybody who's doing anything like that, not even in the US."

Omega Energia announced a binding agreement to take full control of the gigawatt-scale Assuruá wind complex for an estimated value of 262 million reais (US$50.4 million) in March 2022, acquiring both the Assuruá IV and the 244MW Assuruá V wind projects, as well as rights to certain wind and solar expansions that would add 618MW of capacity to the complex. The complex was scheduled to become fully operational in 2023, with Assuruá IV and V expected to contribute around 380 million reais to Omega Energia's annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Omega estimated that the Assuruá complex could reach close to 1,500MW in installed capacity in the coming years. In December, Omega concluded the acquisition of a 50% equity stake in the 182MW Ventos da Bahia 3 wind power complex, also in Bahia state, from EDF Renewables do Brasil for 423 million reais, including 226 million reais in net debt assumption. The 33-turbine wind park entered operations in July 2022, and considering all its assets and the ramp-up of existing parks, Omega Energia projects 2023 generation of 8,700–9,800GW.