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Global data centers used an estimated 415 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in 2024, about 1.5% of worldwide electricity consumption, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA’s 2025 Base Case projects roughly 945 TWh in 2030, just under 3% of global electricity use. Those figures are global estimates and a scenario projection—not a guarantee, and not a good measure of what a particular city or utility will experience.
Artificial-intelligence workloads are a major reason demand is rising, but data centers also run conventional servers, storage, networking, cooling, power equipment and other infrastructure. Because facilities cluster in a small number of regions, their local effect can be far larger than the global percentage suggests.
How much electricity do data centers use?
The IEA estimates that data centers worldwide consumed 415 TWh in 2024, equivalent to about 1.5% of global electricity consumption. The estimate covers the electricity used by servers and other information-technology equipment, cooling systems and supporting infrastructure.
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For scale, the IEA says data-center electricity demand grew by about 12% per year over the preceding five years. Its Base Case then assumes approximately 15% annual growth from 2024 through 2030. Under that scenario, consumption reaches around 945 TWh in 2030, or just under 3% of projected global electricity use.
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| Measure | IEA figure | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Global data-center use in 2024 | 415 TWh | Estimate for one year, not a metering total for every facility |
| Share of global electricity in 2024 | About 1.5% | Worldwide average; local shares can be much higher |
| Average annual growth before 2024 | About 12% | Historical estimate reported by the IEA for the previous five years |
| Global use in 2030 | About 945 TWh | IEA Base Case projection, not a certain outcome |
| Average annual growth, 2024–2030 | About 15% | Growth rate implied by the IEA Base Case |
A terawatt-hour is one billion kilowatt-hours. It is a useful unit for national and global totals, but it does not reveal whether electricity is consumed steadily or in short, high-demand intervals. Two facilities with the same annual TWh can create different grid challenges if one has sharper peaks or is located where transmission capacity is scarce.
How much power does AI need?
AI increases electricity use mainly through accelerated servers: systems containing specialized processors for training and running machine-learning models. In the IEA Base Case, electricity use by accelerated servers grows by about 30% per year, compared with roughly 9% per year for conventional servers.
AI is therefore a powerful growth driver, but it is not synonymous with the whole data-center sector. The IEA’s modeled contribution to the net increase in data-center electricity demand through 2030 is approximately:
| Source of additional demand | Approximate share of net increase to 2030 |
|---|---|
| Accelerated servers | Almost 50% |
| Conventional servers | About 20% |
| Other IT equipment | About 10% |
| Cooling and other infrastructure | About 20% |
These are modeled global contributions, not measurements that apply to every building. AI training can produce concentrated periods of high demand, while inference—the repeated serving of model responses—can create a large, continuing load as usage expands. Hardware improvements, better algorithms, workload scheduling and cooling efficiency can reduce electricity per computation, but growth in the number and complexity of workloads can outweigh those savings.
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The IEA’s executive summary puts the global comparison in context: “Data centres account for around one-tenth of global electricity demand growth to 2030, less than the share from industrial motors, air conditioning in homes and offices, or electric vehicles.” Data centers can be strategically important to a grid without being its largest source of new demand overall.
How certain are the electricity forecasts?
Forecasts should be read as scenarios built from assumptions about AI adoption, workload growth, efficiency and infrastructure—not as a confidence interval or a promise. The IEA says there is “substantial uncertainty both about data centre consumption today and in the future.”
Its 2025 analysis illustrates the range for 2035:
| IEA scenario | Global data-center electricity use in 2035 | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Headwinds | About 700 TWh | Slower adoption or stronger constraints hold demand down |
| Base Case | About 1,200 TWh | Central scenario using the IEA’s stated assumptions |
| Lift-Off | More than 1,700 TWh | Rapid AI and data-center expansion produces much higher demand |
| High Efficiency | Not stated in the cited summary | Efficiency improvements materially reduce electricity per workload |
The scenarios differ along several dimensions:
- How quickly AI services and workloads are adopted.
- How much hardware, software and facility efficiency improves.
- Whether chips, servers, transformers, cables and other equipment are available on schedule.
- How quickly grids add generation, transmission and distribution capacity.
- Whether operators can locate facilities where power is available and shift or curtail workloads when the system is constrained.
A headline number without its scenario can make a conditional estimate sound like a settled fact. When comparing projections, identify the scenario, base year, geography and whether the figure is annual electricity consumption or a peak-power requirement.
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Global averages hide strong geographic concentration. The IEA estimates that in 2024 the United States accounted for 45% of global data-center electricity consumption, China 25% and Europe 15%. The United States and China together are projected to represent nearly 80% of global demand growth through 2030.
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| Region | Share of global data-center electricity use in 2024 |
|---|---|
| United States | 45% |
| China | 25% |
| Europe | 15% |
| All other regions | Remaining share |
Even national figures can conceal local stress. Nearly half of U.S. data-center capacity is located in five regional clusters, according to the IEA. In Ireland, data centers represented around 20% of metered electricity supply in 2024. In the United States, six states already exceeded 10% of metered supply; Virginia was around 25%. These examples describe particular markets and should not be treated as global averages.
Concentration matters because a new facility must connect to a specific substation and transmission corridor. A region can have adequate generation in aggregate but still lack the local lines, transformers or queue position needed for a project. Conversely, a facility in an area with spare capacity may add little immediate pressure even if global demand is rising quickly.
Can the grid keep up with new data centers?
Some projects can connect quickly, but many face long queues for both new electricity supply and new demand connections. The IEA’s 2026 analysis estimates that, unless grid risks are addressed, around 20% of planned data-center projects could be delayed.
Transmission construction is a major constraint. The IEA reports that building a new transmission line can take four to eight years in advanced economies. It also says waiting times for critical transformers and cables had doubled over the preceding three years. These lead times are IEA observations for the markets it analyzed, not a universal schedule for every country.
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What can reduce connection pressure?
- Better siting: Locate new facilities where generation, substations and transmission capacity already exist, rather than treating land availability as the only criterion.
- On-site generation and storage: Batteries or generation at the facility can reduce the amount of power drawn from the grid during constrained periods, subject to emissions, permitting and reliability requirements.
- Flexible operations: Schedule non-urgent training or other workloads for periods when the grid has more capacity, and reduce consumption during emergencies.
- Earlier grid planning: Utilities and regulators can coordinate data-center forecasts with transmission, distribution and equipment procurement instead of evaluating each connection in isolation.
The IEA notes that flexible siting, operation and on-site supply remain underexplored. Curtailing AI-focused operations can also be expensive, particularly when users expect continuous service or when a training run must be restarted. Flexibility is therefore a potential tool, not a free or automatic solution.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Will data centers cause power shortages or higher household bills?
There is no universal rule that data centers automatically cause blackouts or raise household electricity bills. The outcome depends on local generation, network investment, connection agreements, regulation, tariff design and how quickly infrastructure is built.
A data center can increase pressure when it connects in a constrained area and the cost of new substations, lines or generation is spread across ratepayers. A utility can also require the project to fund connection assets, use special tariffs, procure additional capacity or accept operating limits. In another market, abundant generation or a dedicated commercial arrangement may limit effects on residential customers.
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- The facility’s contracted and peak demand, not only its annual energy use.
- Which transmission and distribution upgrades are required and who pays for them.
- The utility’s approved tariff and cost-allocation rules.
- Whether new generation is being built, retired or imported.
- Reliability studies showing the effect under normal and extreme conditions.
Without that local information, a global projection cannot establish what will happen to a household bill or whether a particular area faces a shortage.
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What powers data centers: renewables, gas, coal or nuclear?
There is no single electricity source for all data centers. The physical mix depends on the region’s grid and any generation located at the facility. The IEA’s 2025 supply analysis estimates that data centers globally currently receive electricity from approximately:
| Source | Estimated share of electricity consumed by data centers |
|---|---|
| Coal | About 30% |
| Renewables | About 27% |
| Natural gas | About 26% |
| Nuclear | About 15% |
The shares are rounded global estimates and may not sum exactly because of rounding and other sources. The accounting includes on-site generation and grid electricity using local system fuel mixes; it is not limited to corporate power-purchase contracts.
Looking ahead, the IEA’s 2025 Base Case projects renewables will supply nearly half of the additional electricity needed by data centers through 2030. Gas and coal are expected to help meet near-term growth, while nuclear contributes increasingly toward and after 2030. Those statements describe the projected sources of new supply, not the instantaneous mix at every facility.
Why a renewable contract is not the same as hourly renewable power
An operator may sign a contract or buy certificates associated with renewable generation while drawing electricity from a regional grid whose physical mix changes every hour. The contract can support renewable projects or match annual energy consumption, but it does not prove that the facility is physically powered by renewable electricity at every moment. To assess operational emissions, distinguish contractual procurement from the grid and on-site generation actually serving the load.
How should you interpret a claim about “AI electricity demand”?
Use a consistent checklist before accepting a number:
- Identify the year and geography. A 2024 global estimate is not comparable to a 2030 projection for one country.
- Check whether it is energy or power. TWh measures electricity consumed over time; gigawatts describe an instantaneous capacity or peak.
- Label the scenario. Base Case, Headwinds and Lift-Off represent different assumptions rather than competing measurements.
- Separate AI from the rest of the facility. Accelerated servers are a major growth component, but conventional servers, networking, storage, cooling and other infrastructure remain material.
- Test the local connection. National or global shares do not reveal whether a particular substation or transmission corridor has capacity.
- Ask how supply is counted. Physical grid electricity, on-site generation and contractual renewable purchases answer different questions.
What the numbers mean for planning
At the global level, data centers remain a modest share of total electricity use, even under strong growth scenarios. At the local level, a cluster of large facilities can represent a substantial fraction of demand and compete for scarce grid equipment. That two-scale view explains why both of these statements can be true: data centers are not the dominant source of global electricity consumption, and a utility may still need years of planning to connect one new AI campus.
The most defensible conclusion is conditional. AI is likely to account for a large portion of data-center demand growth, but total demand depends on non-AI workloads and efficiency. New capacity can be supplied by a changing mix of renewables, fossil fuels, nuclear power, storage and imports. Whether projects delay connections, affect reliability or change household costs depends on local infrastructure and rules rather than on the global percentage alone.
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