Investigation reveals Brazilian renewable energy expansion is closely tied to data center buildout, with operators leveraging the country's hydroelectric and wind capacity.

Renewable energy companies are driving most of Brazil's new data center plans, according to a 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, according to the investigation.

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. Attempting to do so would cause disruptions in power supply and potentially trigger 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 greater stability and income for the renewable energy sector.

The Brazilian government has actively sought deals with major technology companies, positioning Brazil as an environmentally friendly host for data centers. On September 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 United States to attract foreign investment in sustainable data centers.

"Renewable energy companies are able to sign long-term power purchase agreements with data centers and Big Tech firms," said Mikaelle Farias, a climate activist and renewable energy engineer at the Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil. "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 expansion of data centers creates challenges for local communities. In the northeastern state of Bahia, a wind power company asked to connect its plant to nine data centers in an area home to a Quilombola community, a traditional territory founded by enslaved and formerly enslaved Afro-Brazilians.

At least 29 municipalities with planned data centers are home to protected Quilombola communities or Indigenous communities working to have their land officially demarcated, the investigation found.

Some analysts contend that renewable energy should serve domestic energy needs rather than power Big Tech's data center operations.

"Companies say, 'Look how we are unlocking this renewable energy,' but they don't specify the intended use," said climate analyst Ketan Joshi. "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?"