AI increases electricity demand: Data centers will consume twice as much in 2030

According to a forecast by the International Energy Agency (IEA), global electricity demand for data centers will more than double by 2030. Due to the increasing use of artificial intelligence, global demand will climb to around 945 terawatt hours per year by 2030. At 170%, the analysts expect the largest increase in Chinese data centers, followed by the USA at 130%. For European infrastructures, they anticipate additional demand of 45 terawatt hours per year by 2030. That is 70 percent more than in 2024.

Power consumption in data centers to increase by 15 percent annually

The authors of the study estimate that data centers will consume around 415 terawatt hours of electricity worldwide this year. This corresponds to around 1.5 percent of global consumption. This share is expected to rise to three percent by 2030. Until then, the researchers expect consumption to grow by 15 percent annually, four times faster than in other sectors. By way of comparison, the electricity consumption of data centers worldwide has risen by 12 percent over the past five years. An additional hurdle for the power grid is the concentration of infrastructure in a few locations.

The authors also predict that the proportion of servers with GPU acceleration for the operation of AI applications will increase by 2030. In addition, their power consumption will increase by around 30 percent annually by then, while the increase for conventional servers is estimated at nine percent. Overall, the researchers assume that AI-optimized servers will account for almost half of the net increase in data center consumption by 2030, with conventional servers accounting for 20 percent and peripheral infrastructure for the rest. However, the majority of companies pay little attention to the energy consumption of AI.

Fossil energy accounts for almost 50 percent in data centers

Currently, more than 60 percent of electricity consumption in data centers is used to operate servers. Cooling systems and humidity control account for around 20 percent of a data center's total consumption. Storage and backup systems together account for five percent. A further five percent is required for the operation of network connections, such as switches, routers, and load balancers. The remaining share is accounted for by smaller items such as lighting or employees' devices.

According to the IEA study, 46% of the electricity consumed in data centers worldwide in 2024 will come from fossil fuels. The USA relies predominantly on natural gas, while China relies on coal power. Around a quarter of the electricity will come from renewable energies and 15 percent from nuclear energy. Although the researchers expect an absolute increase in electricity from fossil fuels by 2030, the share of nuclear and renewable energy for data centers is expected to grow to 60% worldwide. In Europe, this share is expected to be 85% by 2030. Cloud provider Hetzner, for example, is planning to operate its own solar park.

(sfe)