Our consultant, Luiz Felipe Monteiro Seixas, was featured in a BNamericas article on the passing of the Bill establishing Redata, the special tax regime for the data centre sector, which contains a loophole allowing natural gas to be used as an energy source in tax-exempt projects.
This loophole stems from an amendment to the Bill that changed the definition of ‘clean energy’ to ‘renewable or low-emission energy’, the use of and investment in which is one of the conditions required for data centres to qualify for the benefits.
Luiz Felipe therefore warns that the enacted text neither expressly includes nor guarantees the automatic acceptance of gas as an energy source. “The law requires that all the electricity demand of data centres receiving benefits be met by renewable or low-emission sources, and leaves it to the regulations to define which sources fall under this concept,” he explains.
According to him, the government may permit the use of natural gas subject to certain conditions, such as its use solely as a backup, compliance with emissions limits, or the adoption of offsetting measures.