"If there's any question about whether data centers are driving the global economy, a new report from the International Energy Agency should dispel any doubts. This year, the world will spend $580 billion on data centers, $40 billion more than it will spend on new oil supplies. "This point of comparison provides a telling marker of the changing nature of modern, highly digitalized economies," the agency said in the report."
"Electricity consumption from AI data centers is expected to grow fivefold by the end of the decade, doubling the total used by all data centers today. Conventional data centers will also consume more energy, though the increase won't be nearly as dramatic. Fully half of that demand growth is expected to occur in the U.S., the IEA said, with the bulk of the remainder occurring in Europe and China."
""This rapid build out of data centers - especially in clusters and around urban areas - comes with challenges," the IEA wrote. "Grid congestion and connection queues are increasing in many regions, and connection queues for new data centers are often already long." In some markets like northern Virginia, grid connection waits can be as long as a decade. In Europe, Dublin has paused new interconnection requests entirely until 2028."
Global spending on data centers will reach $580 billion this year, exceeding spending on new oil supplies by $40 billion. Electricity demand from AI-operated data centers is projected to grow fivefold by 2030, roughly doubling current total data center electricity use, while conventional data centers will also increase consumption more modestly. Half of the projected demand growth will occur in the United States, with much of the remainder in Europe and China. Most new facilities are being built in cities over one million people, often in large clusters, creating grid congestion, lengthy connection queues, and supply-chain bottlenecks for cables, transformers, and other equipment.
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