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

Electricity consumption by data centres will more than double by 2030, driven by AI, per an estimate.

Electricity consumption by data centres will more than double by 2030, driven by artificial intelligence applications that will create new challenges for energy security and CO2 emission goals, the IEA said Thursday.

At the same time, AI can unlock opportunities to produce and consume electricity more efficiently, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its first report on the energy implications of AI.

Data centres represented about 1.5% of global electricity consumption in 2024, but that has increased by 12% annually over the past five years. Generative AI requires colossal computing power to process information accumulated in gigantic databases.

Together, the United States, Europe, and China currently account for about 85% of data centre consumption.

Big tech companies increasingly recognise their growing need for power. Google last year signed a deal to get electricity from small nuclear reactors to help power its part in the artificial intelligence race.

Microsoft is to use energy from new reactors at Three Mile Island, the site of America's worst nuclear accident, when it went through a meltdown in 1979. Amazon also signed an accord last year to use nuclear power for its data centres.

At the current rate, data centres will consume about 3% of global energy by 2030, the report said.