Omnia, from Patria Investimentos, agreed with the renewable generator Casa dos Ventos to supply electricity for the data center it is building in Brazil for the Chinese ByteDance, owner of TikTok, in an agreement valued at around US$2 billion, the companies told Reuters.
Located in the Pecém port complex (CE), the project is the largest data center under development in Brazil and will be capable of exporting data processing capacity around the world, with investments estimated at R$200 billion.
The first phase of the project signed by ByteDance will have 200 megawatts (MW) of IT capacity and a power consumption of around 300 MW.
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The energy will be supplied from the Ibiapaba wind complex, with 630 MW in Ceará, which is being built by Casa dos Ventos, a Brazilian company that has TotalEnergies as a shareholder and which participated in the initial development of the data center.
A smaller portion of energy consumption will be met by the Dom Inocêncio wind farm, in Piauí, also owned by Casa dos Ventos.
The signing represents another step in an ‘ambitious’ long-term project that aims to make Porto do Pecém a global data center campus, taking advantage of the export processing zone, said Rodrigo Abreu, CEO of Omnia, Patria’s platform dedicated to hyperscale data centers.
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The agreement, with a term of 20 years and valued at US$2 billion, was structured as a self-production of energy, a model in which energy consumers become partners in the generation parks, which guarantees them tariff benefits, exemption from charges and more competitive input costs.
Omnia did not disclose what share it will have in the Casa dos Ventos plants.
As for Casa dos Ventos, the contract supports the expansion plan for its wind and solar generating park, with an increase of 2.1 GW in capacity and contributions of R$11 billion. The agreement with Omnia is also the largest ever closed by the generator with a customer.
‘Data centers are our main growth segment,’ said Lucas Araripe, executive director of Casa dos Ventos, recalling the agreement signed this year to supply energy to projects by Ascenty, Brookfield and Digital Realty.
Works started
Omnia, owner of the project, said that construction of the data center for ByteDance began in January, with operations expected to begin in the third quarter of 2027, gradually expanding its activities until 2029.
The project, which is the first large data center in Brazil, was celebrated by both the industry and the federal government, which seeks to attract new global investments in the face of the warming of this sector.
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On the other hand, it has raised criticism and concern from socio-environmental entities, especially regarding the use of water and possible impacts on indigenous communities around the port.
According to Abreu, the project complied with all requirements from environmental, federal and state agencies and is ‘fully licensed’.
‘We believe that our impact is a positive impact on the region. We are developing and have already launched employment and technical training programs’, said the executive, adding that the project will have a ‘minimum use of water’, equivalent to ’40, 50 homes at most’.
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