Agencia Nacional de Energia Eletrica (ANEEL)
Brazil's federal electricity regulatory agency.
A federal appeals judge gave ANEEL 48 hours on 6 October 2026 to rule on developer Pahlavan's bid to keep grid capacity at the Replan substation. No ANEEL decision had been published by 17 October, and new awards there wait on it.
Last refreshed: 18 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Timeline for Agencia Nacional de Energia Eletrica (ANEEL)
Mentioned in: Brazil auctions its grid to data centres
Data Centres: Boom and BacklashBrazil judge freezes Replan grid awards
Data Centres: Boom and BacklashAuthorised Scala's AI City grid connection
Data Centres: Boom and Backlash: Brazil links Scala Data Centers' AI CityBackground
The Agencia Nacional de Energia Eletrica (ANEEL) regulates Brazil's electricity sector at federal level. Projects need its authorisation before they can connect to The National transmission grid, so its orders decide when a large new load moves from plan to supply.
That power grew in weight in 2026 as data centres crowded the queue. Brazil's new transmission-access policy allocates capacity by competitive rounds wherever requests exceed what a connection point can take. The first round, on 6 and 7 October, drew 451 MW of qualified demand for 228 MW at four São Paulo points, and three data-centre projects took all of it.
Developers that hold permits issued under the old rules can contest the switch, and the courts have begun asking ANEEL to answer them.
The regulator's grid orders reach court
Through Despacho 3.506, ANEEL cleared the AI City campus that Scala Data Centers is building at Eldorado do Sul for a national-grid link. The order was dated 3 September 2026 and published in the official gazette on 10 September; an access opinion from The National grid operator puts the link at 120 MW, starting in January 2028.
By 6 October ANEEL faced a court deadline. Pahlavan's three Paulínia projects held ANEEL authorisations and signed transmission-use contracts under the earlier access rules, each due to step up from 71 MW to 157 MW in 2029, but the grid operator found that step unviable once the new policy applied. A TRF-1 appeals judge then ordered ANEEL to rule on Pahlavan's injunction requests within 48 hours, while granting no priority and reserving no capacity.
Reference
What is ANEEL?
When will Scala's AI City connect to Brazil's grid?
What did Aneel authorise for Scala's AI City data centre?
Does ANEEL need to approve Brazil's Redata data-centre tax scheme?
Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 18 October 2026. Editorial standards.