Global electricity consumption from data centers is projected to roughly double to around 945 terawatt-hours by 2030, according to International Energy Agency analysis, reaching just under 3 percent of total global electricity consumption. Data center electricity use amounted to about 415 terawatt-hours in 2024, near 1.5 percent of the world total.

Growth is running well ahead of the broader power sector. From 2024 to 2030, data center electricity consumption is expected to expand about 15 percent per year, more than four times the growth rate of electricity demand from all other sectors combined. In 2025 alone, global data center electricity demand rose 17 percent, in line with the agency's projections.

Artificial intelligence is the sharpest driver. Electricity use at AI-focused data centers surged 50 percent in 2025. Consumption in accelerated servers, the hardware behind AI workloads, is projected to grow about 30 percent per year, while conventional server consumption grows at a slower 9 percent annual pace.

The trend feeds into a broader rise in electricity demand. The agency forecasts global electricity demand growing at an average annual rate of 3.6 percent across the 2026 to 2030 period, supported by industry, electric vehicles, air conditioning, and data centers. In the United States, where a large share of AI infrastructure is concentrated, the load growth is a central factor in utility planning.

Source: International Energy Agency - https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2026/executive-summary