Thymos Energia, a business consultancy specializing in the energy sector, projects that total investments in data center infrastructure in Brazil will reach R$60 billion by 2030.
The data is part of the study “Data Centers in Brazil – Perspectives, Opportunities and Challenges”, released by the company that deals with the development potential of this market in the country.
The white paper points out that, according to data from the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy), to date, there has been a request for connection to the basic grid of 9 GW of data center loads in the states of São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte and Bahia. Brazil currently has more than 130 data centers in operation.
Among the reasons for the attractiveness of this type of investment is the fact that Brazil has a dynamic business environment, with an electrical matrix composed predominantly of renewable sources, with emphasis on hydraulic, wind and solar photovoltaic energy.
“Safe, stable and low-emission electrical energy is one of the fundamental aspects in determining the location of a data center”, says Jovanio Santos, Director of New Business at Thymos Energia.
The executive adds that there are several other factors for expanding data centers in the country, such as proximity to the electricity grid, IT and communication infrastructure, expansion capacity, friendly business environment, community relations, geopolitical security and external temperature.
“The growth scenario of this new niche in Brazil reveals an excellent opportunity for energy generation and marketing agents,” says Jovanio.
According to white paper from Thymos Energia, to take advantage of all this market potential, agents will need to make decisions based on advance analyses, considering strategy scenarios in data processing and storage management; premises of new incentive policies; operating strategies of the main players in the segment and energy efficiency scenarios of components used.
Global demand growth
Globally, data center electricity consumption in 2022 is estimated at between 240-340 TWh, which represents around 1% to 1,3% of total electricity consumed globally, excluding cryptocurrency mining and data networking activities. Considering these two segments, the figures rise to 460 TWh, reaching 2% of total global consumption in the same period.
Depending on the degree of implementation, energy efficiency improvements and trends in cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence, the projection of additional consumption could vary significantly between 160 TWh and 590 TWh by 2026 – these would be average annual electricity consumption values from Sweden to .
Total electricity demand across all sectors could grow by around 6.760 TWh worldwide by 2030, with 80% of this growth coming from developing nations and emerging economies. The Thymos Energia study also indicates that around 10% of this demand will come from data centers.
However, several aspects can influence projections, such as the concentration of the supply chain, opportunities for energy efficiency (both in hardware and software), aspects of connecting data centers to the electricity grid, and aspects related to the segment's policy and regulation.
“The trend is for energy consumption to grow, in which the data center sector will have a good representation. However, it is important for Brazil to consider international experiences and lessons learned, and to be agile in anticipating bottlenecks and taking advantage of future opportunities,” concludes Jovanio.
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