An International Energy Association (IEA) report expects demand from AI data centres to triple by 2030.
AI data centres are energy guzzlers, requiring a significant amount of electricity for computation. Just in the UK, it is predicted that the 140 proposed data centre schemes could collectively require 50GW of power – 5GW more than the country’s current peak electricity demand.
The new IEA report – Key questions on energy and AI – shows how AI is rapidly transforming global electricity use.
Its analysis reveals that electricity demand from data centres rose by 17% in 2025, far outpacing the 3% growth in overall global electricity demand. AI-focused data centres are growing even faster as people make use of energy-intensive applications such as AI agents.
By 2030, the IEA projects that electricity consumption from data centres will double, while AI-specific demand is expected to triple.
At the same time, AI data centre development is increasingly coming up against a range of physical and...