Organizations and parliamentary groups are asking Lula to regulate the Redata program using natural gas.

Nine parliamentary fronts and 32 entities sent an open letter to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), this Thursday (15), asking for speed in the publication of the decree that regulates Redata (Special Tax Regime for Datacenter Services).

Established by Law No. 15.504, enacted on September 15, 2026, Redata provides tax benefits to encourage the installation, expansion, and modernization of data centers in Brazil, including the suspension of federal taxes on the acquisition of equipment intended for these projects.

Although already in effect, the program still depends on regulations to define the conditions for accessing the incentives. In this context, the document sent to the president argues that the rules should allow the use of different energy sources, including natural gas and nuclear power, to supply the beneficiary projects.

According to the signatories, restricting the supply of data centers exclusively to renewable sources could require additional generation capacity and investments in expanding the transmission network.

The organizations also warn of a potential increase in the costs of the electricity system if it becomes necessary to resort to more expensive power plants to meet the demand of these projects.

Despite discussions about which sources can be used, industry representatives argue that the publication of the decree should not be delayed. The proposal is for the Federal Government to initially establish the general guidelines for Redata and leave the technical points still without consensus for complementary regulations, which may be submitted to public consultation.

Natural gas depends on government definition.

The discussion about eligible energy sources gained momentum during the legislative process that led to the creation of Redata. In early September, the Senate approved an amendment to the text that opened the door for the possible inclusion of natural gas among the energy sources for data centers benefiting from the program.

The change was proposed by Senator Laércio Oliveira (PP-SE), who replaced the original requirement to use clean or renewable sources with a provision for renewable or low-emission sources.

With the new wording, it will be up to the Federal Government to detail, in the regulations, the criteria for classifying low-emission sources, including the potential eligibility of natural gas. The inclusion of this source is advocated by the entities that signed the letter, but it still depends on the conditions that will be established by the Executive branch.

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