AI surge to double data center electricity demand by 2030: IEA

Electrical energy consumption by knowledge facilities will greater than double by 2030, pushed by synthetic intelligence functions that may create new challenges for power safety and CO₂ emission objectives, the IEA stated Thursday.

On the similar time, AI can unlock alternatives to provide and eat electrical energy extra effectively, the Worldwide Vitality Company (IEA) stated in its first report on the power implications of AI.

Information facilities represented about 1.5% of world electricity consumption in 2024, however that has elevated by 12% yearly over the previous 5 years. Generative AI requires colossal computing energy to course of info amassed in gigantic databases.

Collectively, the USA, Europe, and China presently account for about 85% of knowledge middle consumption.

Massive tech corporations more and more acknowledge their rising want for energy. Google final yr signed a deal to get electrical energy from small nuclear reactors to assist energy its half within the artificial intelligence race.

Microsoft is to make use of power from new reactors at Three Mile Island, the location of America’s worst nuclear accident, when it went by a meltdown in 1979. Amazon additionally signed an accord final yr to make use of nuclear power for its data centers.

On the present fee, knowledge facilities will eat about 3% of world power by 2030, the report stated.

In line with the IEA, knowledge middle electrical energy consumption will attain about 945 terawatt hours (TWH) by 2030.

“This is slightly more than Japan’s total electricity consumption today. AI is the most important driver of this growth, alongside growing demand for other digital services,” stated the report.

One 100 megawatt knowledge middle can use as a lot energy as 100,000 households, the report stated. However it highlighted that new knowledge facilities, already beneath building, may use as a lot as two million households.

The Paris-based power coverage advisory group stated that “artificial intelligence has the potential to transform the energy sector in the coming decade, driving a surge in electricity demand from data centers worldwide, while also unlocking significant opportunities to cut costs, enhance competitiveness, and reduce emissions”.

Hoping to maintain forward of China within the subject of synthetic intelligence, US President Donald Trump has launched the creation of a “National Council for Energy Dominance” tasked with boosting electrical energy manufacturing.

Proper now, coal gives about 30% of the power wanted to energy knowledge facilities, however renewables and natural gas will enhance their shares due to their decrease prices and wider availability in key markets.

The expansion of knowledge facilities will inevitably enhance carbon emissions linked to electrical energy consumption, from 180 million tonnes of CO₂ in the present day to 300 million tonnes by 2035, the IEA stated. That is still a minimal share of the 41.6 billion tonnes of world emissions estimated in 2024.

© 2025 AFP