Europe’s Data Center Power Demand Set To Triple By 2030

Europe’s data center power consumption is expected to almost triple by 2030 and will require a big rise in electricity supply mostly from low-carbon sources, and grid infrastructure upgrades, a McKinsey report showed.

Why It’s Important

Investment in data centers has risen over the past couple of years as digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) has gained momentum. This has raised questions about how countries can meet the expected rise in electricity demand which the growing number of huge data centers will create.

Major tech companies are looking for ways to offset the increased emissions and energy needs of data centers due to AI, and they’re coming to find that nuclear energy might have to be the solution. 

Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are now pursuing nuclear power investments, as their companies are using a monumental amount of energy from data centers — for which nuclear power could provide a bountiful supply of energy. 

Context

According to the International Energy Agency, much of the growth in data centers will be in the United States, but other economies such as China and Europe will also experience more data center installation over the coming years.

By The Numbers

In Europe — the European Union, Norway, Switzerland and Britain — the total IT load demand for data centers in the region is expected to grow to around 35 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 from 10 GW today, according to the McKinsey report.

Based on the current rate of adoption, Europe’s data center power consumption is expected to almost triple to more than 150 terawatt hours (TWh) by the end of the decade from around 62 TWh today.

Data centers are expected to account for around 5% of total European consumption in the next six years compared to around 2% today.

Meeting data center demand will require at least $250-300 billion in data center infrastructure investment, excluding power generation capacity, the report added.

Key Quote

“Meeting (the rise in electricity) demand will require an extensive increase in electricity supply; a notable shift for Europe, where aggregate power demand has remained relatively stagnant since 2007,” the McKinsey report said.

(Reporting by Emma Ascott from Allwork.Space, Nina Chestney; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)