New analysis from the International Energy Agency's Electricity 2026 report quantifies just how large a role data centers now play in reshaping global power demand. Global electricity consumption grew 3 percent in 2025, following a 4.4 percent increase in 2024, and the IEA expects growth to accelerate to an average of 3.6 percent annually between 2026 and 2030, a marked jump from the 2.8 percent annual pace of the prior decade. Under that forecast, global electricity consumption climbs from roughly 28,200 terawatt-hours in 2025 to 33,600 terawatt-hours by 2030.

The United States sits at the center of that shift. The IEA projects U.S. electricity demand will rise by close to 2 percent per year on average through 2030, more than double the rate of the past ten years, with data center expansion identified as a primary driver. Over that five-year window, the agency expects the U.S. to add more than 420 terawatt-hours of electricity consumption, and it attributes roughly half of that total growth to the continued build-out of data center capacity.

Globally, the IEA groups data centers within the buildings sector, which it expects to contribute 49 percent of all new electricity demand worldwide between 2025 and 2030, with data centers, space cooling and heat pumps together accounting for nearly half of that segment's growth. The findings underscore why utilities across the country, including in the Southeast, are now racing to add generation and transmission capacity.

Source: IEA -- https://www.iea.org/energy-system/buildings/data-centres-and-data-transmission-networks