Data centres used an estimated 415 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity worldwide in 2024—about 1.5% of global consumption. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects about 945 TWh by 2030 in its Base Case, just under 3% of projected global electricity use. That is a fast-growing share, but it is important to distinguish data centres’ total use from their share of future demand growth—and to distinguish a small global share from the pressure a concentrated cluster can put on a local grid.
How much electricity do data centres use globally?
The IEA estimates that data centres consumed 415 TWh in 2024, around 1.5% of global electricity. That is an estimate of annual energy use, not the amount of power they can draw at a particular moment. The IEA says data-centre electricity use has grown by about 12% per year since 2017.
For comparison, 1.5% describes the data-centre share of all electricity consumed worldwide in 2024. It does not mean data centres account for 1.5% of the increase in electricity demand, nor does it describe every country or grid region.
How large could data-centre demand become by 2030?
In the IEA’s Base Case, data-centre electricity use reaches about 945 TWh in 2030, just under 3% of projected global electricity consumption. The IEA projects annual growth of around 15% from 2024 to 2030 in this scenario—more than four times the growth rate for electricity consumption from all other sectors combined.
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This is a forecast scenario, not a measured result or a guarantee. The IEA also models sensitivity cases because the outcome depends on factors including AI adoption, hardware and software efficiency, server shipments, and constraints on electricity supply.
How does data-centre growth compare with other sources of new demand?
The share of total consumption and the share of added demand answer different questions. Although data centres are expanding quickly, the IEA estimates they will account for around one-tenth of global electricity-demand growth through 2030. That contribution is below industrial motors, air conditioning in homes and offices, and electric vehicles.
Those comparisons concern incremental growth, not the sectors’ total electricity use. They do not mean data centres use one-tenth as much electricity as those sectors today, or that each named category has the same total consumption as data centres.
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Can one data centre use as much power as a factory?
At the facility level, scale can look very different from the global total. The IEA says AI-focused data centres can draw as much electricity as power-intensive factories such as aluminium smelters. This is an analogy between some AI-focused facilities and energy-intensive factories; it does not establish that all data centres have a smelter-sized load or compare the total electricity used by data centres with all aluminium production.
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The comparison is about power draw at a facility, whereas figures such as 415 TWh measure electricity consumed over a year. Capacity and annual consumption are related, but they are not interchangeable: a large potential load is not itself an annual energy total.
Why can a small global share matter to local electricity users?
Data centres are geographically concentrated. The IEA reports that nearly half of US data-centre capacity is located in five regional clusters. A concentrated group of large loads can create substantial demand on particular transmission and distribution systems even when the sector’s global share is relatively small. The IEA 4E review likewise notes that local concentration can contribute to grid-connection and capacity constraints.
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Ireland illustrates the difference between global and national shares
Ireland’s Central Statistics Office reports that data centres used 6,969 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2024, equal to 21.8% of the country’s metered electricity consumption. In the same table, data-centre use exceeded urban residential consumption (5,849 GWh) and rural residential consumption (3,101 GWh) considered separately, but was below the 13,055 GWh used by other non-residential tariff groups.
Ireland is a country-specific example, not a proxy for the global pattern. Its national share shows why electricity use should be considered at the geography relevant to a grid, as well as in worldwide totals.
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Global estimates depend on the year, the studies and methods used, and what is included in the category. An IEA 4E commissioned review examined more than 50 publications; the eight studies it rated high quality produced estimates of 210–440 TWh for 2023, with an average base-case estimate of 335 TWh. That range describes differing 2023 estimates; it is not interchangeable with the IEA’s 415 TWh estimate for 2024.
Category boundaries matter too. Some earlier forecasts grouped data centres with AI and cryptocurrency, while excluding data-transmission networks. For example, the IEA’s 2024 forecast covered data centres, AI, and cryptocurrency together and explicitly excluded transmission-network demand. It should not be treated as a pure data-centre observation.
Quick Recap
How to read the comparisons fairly
- Check the measure: annual electricity consumption (TWh or GWh) is different from power draw or capacity at a particular time.
- Check the time frame: the 2024 global figure is an estimate; the 2030 figure is the IEA Base Case scenario.
- Check the comparison: one-tenth refers to data centres’ share of demand growth through 2030, not their share of current electricity use.
- Check the geography: a global average can conceal high shares and grid constraints in particular countries or regions.
- Check what is counted: figures that bundle data centres with cryptocurrency, AI, or networks do not necessarily measure the same category.
Sources
- International Energy Agency, Energy and AI: Executive summary.
- International Energy Agency, Energy demand from AI – Energy and AI.
- Central Statistics Office Ireland, Business in Ireland 2025: Emissions and Energy Use by Enterprises – Energy.
- IEA 4E Technology Collaboration Programme, Data Centre Energy Use: Critical Review of Models and Results.
- International Energy Agency, Electricity 2024: Analysis and forecast to 2026.
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