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Canonical policy ask · Compute & energy

Publish authoritative AI data-centre electricity demand projections

Maintain public, method-stated projections of data-centre and AI-focused electricity demand for grid and infrastructure planning.

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United StatesPublished (IEA analysis)

The IEA Key Questions on Energy and AI executive summary updates 2025 growth and 2030 projections. IEA is an intergovernmental agency; the report is not UN law.

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  1. 2026-06-01
    IEA publishes Key Questions on Energy and AI

    The IEA released updated analysis of data-centre electricity demand growth and 2030 projections.

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IEA reports data-centre electricity demand grew 17% in 2025

The IEA executive summary states global data-centre electricity demand grew 17% in 2025 and AI-focused centres grew 50%.

The global electricity demand of data centres – the critical infrastructure for training and running AI models – grew by 17% in 2025, in line with IEA projections. Electricity consumption from AI-focused data centres grew even faster, surging 50% in 2025.
International Energy Agency · IEA Key Questions on Energy and AI · Executive summary

IEA projects data-centre electricity near 950 TWh by 2030

The IEA central projection roughly doubles data-centre electricity from 485 TWh in 2025 to 950 TWh in 2030.

Our updated projections see electricity consumption from data centres roughly doubling from 485 TWh in 2025 to 950 TWh in 2030, accounting for around 3% of global electricity demand by that date.
International Energy Agency · IEA Key Questions on Energy and AI · Executive summary

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