US data centers will require 22 percent more grid power by the end of 2025 than they did the year before, and demand will nearly triple by 2030, according to an updated forecast from 451 Research, a division of S&P Global. Utility power supplied to hyperscale, leased, and crypto-mining data centers is projected to rise by roughly 11.3 gigawatts in 2025, bringing total demand to 61.8 gigawatts.
The research firm's outlook projects demand climbing further to 75.8 gigawatts in 2026, then to 108 gigawatts by 2028 and 134.4 gigawatts by 2030, covering electricity used for IT equipment, cooling, lighting, and other facility functions. Those figures do not include enterprise-owned data centers operated outside the major hyperscale technology companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, meaning total grid impact from data infrastructure is likely higher still.
Utility filings are already reflecting the strain. American Electric Power's Ohio Power Company subsidiary told state regulators in September that it had received interconnection requests for 36 data center sites totaling 13 gigawatts of load, down from more than 30 gigawatts previously as some projects were scaled back or withdrawn. Separately, AEP cited customer commitments for 24 gigawatts of new demand by 2030, including 18 gigawatts tied specifically to data centers, against a raw interconnection queue of 190 gigawatts, a volume the utility said would equal five times its current system size if fully realized.
Regionally, Virginia continues to lead the country in data center power demand, with 451 Research projecting the state will need roughly 12.1 gigawatts in 2025, up from 9.3 gigawatts in 2024. Texas follows at an estimated 9.7 gigawatts in 2025, driven largely by crypto-mining and leased facility growth, while Oregon, Georgia, Arizona, Ohio, California, Illinois, and Iowa are each expected to see state-level demand in the low single-digit gigawatt range.
Source: S&P Global Commodity Insights – https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/news-research/latest-news/electric-power/101425-data-center-grid-power-demand-to-rise-22-in-2025-nearly-triple-by-2030