A recent report from BloombergNEF forecasts a substantial surge in data center energy demand, estimating a nearly 300% increase by 2035 compared to current levels. This growth is attributed to the continuous construction of new data centers, which are expected to necessitate almost triple the electricity currently used by the sector.
By 2035, data centers are projected to consume 106 gigawatts, a significant rise from the current 40 gigawatts. The scale of these planned data centers is set to be substantially larger than existing facilities, with the majority of the expansion occurring in rural areas due to space constraints near urban centers.
The report highlights that while only a small percentage of current data centers draw more than 50 megawatts of electricity, the average new facility will require over 100 megawatts in the coming years. Notably, a considerable number of these upcoming data centers are expected to surpass 500 megawatts, with some even exceeding 1 gigawatt in energy consumption.
Additionally, the utilization rate of data centers is predicted to rise from 59% to 69%, driven by the increasing demand for AI training and inference, which is anticipated to account for nearly 40% of total data center compute.
This significant growth in energy demand underscores the evolving landscape of data center operations and the substantial investments being made in enhancing computational capabilities globally.
Source: TechCrunch