US company Atlas Renewable, Latin America's largest privately-owned renewables independent power producer (IPP) and one of the world's fastest-growing renewable energy companies, is reportedly aiming to develop data centres in Brazil.
The company plans to develop at least three data centres at the Port of Açu industrial complex, located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, according to both the Data Centre Dynamics and BNamericas websites.
However, this apparently isn’t totally guaranteed yet. The projects have been submitted individually to the Ministry of Mines and Energy for evaluation for connection to the electricity grid, through local subsidiary Atlas Comercializadora de Energia.
If they do go ahead, the two projects will be the first direct investments in the data centre space by Atlas, which already has some 7.5GW of renewable capacity in operation or development across Latin America, with the majority of projects in Brazil.
Among its energy supply contracts with companies in the data centre sector, it can count Chile’s OData and the neutral network, digital infrastructure and data centre group V.tal in Brazil.
In fact in 2024 we reported that V.tal had agreed a contract with Atlas, which, at the time, said it was entering the data centre sector in Latin America through the deal.
As for the Port of Açu industrial complex itself, in August 2024, Prumo Logística, which is responsible for developing the complex, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Andrade Gutierrez group, a Brazilian private multinational conglomerate, to make hyperscale data center projects feasible at the site.
While the port’s distance from major consumer centres may appear to be a disadvantage, various news sources point out that the availability of space, ease of construction, and the absence of interference in the port’s surroundings could prove to be useful for artificial intelligence and data storage, among other applications.
The availability of fresh and reusable water for cooling systems, as well as on-site sources of renewable energy, gas and generators are also positives – as is the proximity to submarine cables.
