AI data centres 'could need more power than whole of US' by 2050
Tech giants including Amazon, Google and Microsoft could each use more power than entire countries by mid-century, says Wood Mackenzie study
The booming power demands of artificial intelligence and data centres could outstrip that of the entire United States by 2050, according to a new report.
The stratospheric growth in power demand from data centres, which has been accelerated by the proliferation of AI tools such as ChatGPT in recent years, is set to play a key role in the energy transition.
AI and data centres last year consumed around 500TWh of power, according to a new Energy Transition Outlook published by energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
To put that in other terms, if AI and data centres were a country, they would already have the ninth largest electricity demand globally – nestled between South Korea (8th) and Germany (10th).
By 2050, WoodMac estimates AI and data centres could together use up to a staggering 4,500TWh of power.
That would have been enough to power the entire US last year, with enough change left over to keep the lights on in France as well.
"New demand growth also heralds an era of upward pressure on wholesale power prices. While the challenges of meeting electricity demand growth loom large, the prize for both utilities and developers that can adapt most quickly will be substantial."
Amazon last year snapped up 8.8GW of clean energy capacity, according to BloombergNEF, making it easily the largest buyer globally. Now at 33GW, BNEF said Amazon’s clean power fleet is larger than the entire generation capacity of countries including Belgium and Chile.
With their near-insatiable power demands, WoodMac noted that tech giants are increasingly interested in nuclear due to its ability to supply round-the-clock baseload electricity, compared to variable generation from wind and solar.
Those technologies also include green hydrogen, advanced geothermal and long-duration energy storage, all of which are technologies that could play a key role in stabilising a global power grid that will become increasingly dominated by variable wind and solar.