Data centers can add large, steady electricity loads to the places where they operate, require new grid infrastructure, and use water directly for cooling or indirectly through electricity generation. The size of those effects depends on the facility, its utility and watershed, and how its power and water needs are met. National forecasts show rapid growth in data-center electricity use, but they cannot tell you what one proposed facility will do to local bills, water availability, or community benefits.
How much electricity do data centers use?
Data-center electricity demand is growing, but estimates depend on the forecast date, assumptions, and scenario. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s 2026 release of its 2025 update estimates that data centers could account for 11.8% of U.S. electricity use by 2030. Its scenario range is 9.5% to 15.3%. These are projections, not observed results for 2030 and not forecasts for any individual utility territory.
For context, LBNL’s 2024 report estimated data centers used 176 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2023, about 4.4% of U.S. electricity use. That report projected 325–580 TWh in 2028, or about 6.7%–12% of U.S. electricity use. Those 2028 figures are estimates from the 2024 report; they should not be combined with the later 2030 projection as if they were one forecast series.
How can a data center affect a local power grid?
A large facility concentrates electricity demand in one location. Data centers also typically need reliable power continuously, although actual load patterns and flexibility vary. The combination of load size, location, timing, and reliability requirements can affect utility planning well beyond the property line.
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Before a facility can draw power at its planned scale, the utility and grid operator need to determine whether the local system can serve it and what upgrades are needed. Depending on the site, that can involve the distribution network serving the property, higher-voltage transmission lines, substations, or additional generation. Interconnection studies and utility plans are therefore central to understanding a project’s grid effects.
Data-center growth is uneven across regions, and siting can be constrained by factors such as the need to locate near users to reduce latency. As a result, a national demand projection does not show where capacity is available or which local system may need upgrades. The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2024 report on data-center energy demand discusses regional variation, around-the-clock power needs, and the planning challenges associated with growth.
Reliability and household bills
A new large load can prompt questions about available generation, peak demand, and reliability. It does not follow that a data center automatically causes outages. Nor does national electricity growth establish that household bills will rise in a particular community. Local effects depend on utility capacity and planning, the cost and timing of upgrades, the project’s electricity arrangements, and regulatory decisions about how costs are allocated. Those answers require local utility filings, rate decisions, and project-specific records.
Ways utilities and operators can manage demand
DOE identifies proactive planning, grid optimization, innovative tariff structures, and demand flexibility as approaches for managing large-load growth. Flexibility can mean reducing or shifting some electricity use during peak-demand periods, where a facility’s operations and agreements allow it. These are planning options, not guaranteed capabilities or outcomes for every data center.
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How can data centers affect water supplies?
A facility’s water footprint has at least two parts: water used onsite, including for cooling, and water consumed indirectly in generating the electricity it uses. LBNL’s 2024 report discusses both. Indirect water use varies with the local electricity supply and with the water characteristics of the generation technologies in that mix.
Onsite cooling water
Cooling design influences how much water a facility uses onsite, but a cooling-system label alone does not establish total water demand or local impact. A useful proposal review needs facility-level annual and peak water demand, the cooling design, the source of the water, and how wastewater will be handled. It also needs the water utility’s capacity and the conditions of the relevant watershed.
Water used to generate electricity
Electricity production can consume water even when the data center itself does not draw that water at its site. The amount depends on where and how the electricity is generated. Thus, a facility’s direct cooling demand is not the same as its full water footprint, and the same facility design can have different indirect water implications in different electricity systems.
The reviewed national sources do not establish a universal water-stress impact for every data center. A national estimate or facility average cannot, by itself, show that a particular water system can or cannot serve a proposal. Local utility records, project documents, and watershed information are needed for that determination.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsWhat should residents ask about community effects?
Community outcomes depend on project details and local agreements. The available national guidance supports early engagement and planning, but it does not establish a standard number of jobs, a particular tax benefit, a universal rate increase, or a fixed level of noise or environmental harm for every project.
A U.S. Department of Energy advisory working-group report recommends engaging local tribes and communities sufficiently early in planning to develop community-benefit plans and to streamline and mitigate risks from infrastructure development. For residents, that means asking not only what will be built on the data-center site, but also what supporting infrastructure is planned and who will bear its costs and effects.
- Infrastructure: What new generation, transmission, substations, water lines, or wastewater facilities are planned?
- Cost allocation: How will the costs of grid and water-system upgrades be assigned, and what utility or regulatory decisions establish that arrangement?
- Local commitments: What specific community benefits are proposed, who is responsible for delivering them, and how will progress be reported?
- Construction and land use: What construction activity, land-use changes, or other local effects are anticipated, and how can residents participate in review?
- Tribal and resident engagement: When will affected tribes and communities be consulted, and how can their concerns inform planning before key decisions are made?
How to assess a proposed data center in your area
Use project-specific evidence rather than a national percentage or a general claim about data centers. The following questions focus on the information that determines local effects.
- Establish the load. Find the proposed electricity demand, when it is expected to come online, how quickly it may grow, and whether the facility expects to operate continuously or vary its demand.
- Check grid capacity and upgrades. Review utility and grid-operator interconnection information, planned generation, and required transmission and distribution work. Identify the expected schedule and how infrastructure costs are allocated.
- Understand the power supply. Ask what electricity supply serves the facility and what generation mix is relevant to the site. This matters for both grid planning and the indirect water consumed in generating electricity.
- Get facility-level water figures. Request annual and peak water demand, cooling design, water source, and wastewater arrangements. Compare the proposal with water-system capacity and watershed conditions.
- Examine demand flexibility. Ask whether the facility can reduce or shift electricity use during peak periods, under what operating conditions, and whether any such commitment is part of an enforceable agreement.
- Review community commitments and participation. Seek written benefit plans, cost-allocation terms, construction and land-use information, and a clear process for early engagement with residents and local tribes.
What national forecasts can—and cannot—tell you
National figures show why utilities and policymakers are planning for more data-center load. They do not predict the effect of a named facility on a local grid, water system, household bill, or community. Those outcomes depend on the proposed load and schedule, existing utility capacity, required upgrades, electricity mix, cooling and water arrangements, watershed conditions, and the terms of local planning and cost allocation.
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