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US data centers could consume 20% of power by 2035
BloombergNEF says U.S. data centers may use one-fifth of all electricity by 2035, driven by AI and rising grid strain.
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U.S. data centers are on track to consume one-fifth of the country’s electricity by 2035, according to a new BloombergNEF report — roughly four times their current share.
The forecast says a boom in AI compute will push data center capacity to nearly 200 gigawatts over the next decade. Nearly half of that capacity will go to training and inference, with most of it still concentrated in the U.S. By 2033, the country is expected to host 64% of AI chips by power demand.
Even that may prove conservative. BloombergNEF’s new 2035 electricity-demand estimate is 83% higher than the consultancy’s own forecast from December. Other groups have also revised upward: EPRI has more than doubled its 2024 estimate, while S&P raised its forecast by more than a third between October and April.
Grid pressure in PJM and ERCOT
BloombergNEF expects most new data centers over the next decade to connect to grids that are already under stress. In PJM Interconnection, which stretches from Virginia to Illinois, 34% of electricity is projected to go to data centers. In ERCOT, which covers most of Texas, data centers could require 22% of generating capacity.
PJM has already struggled with connection requests from both major generators and large power users. It froze applications for new grid connections for four years, even as demand kept rising. Although PJM reopened the queue to new generating sources in April, pressure has intensified: utility American Electric Power has threatened to leave the interconnection, and the supply-demand imbalance has pushed electricity prices up 76% over the past year.
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That has not slowed demand. Data centers accounted for 38% of charges in PJM’s latest capacity auction.
Outside the U.S., growth is set to continue as well. By 2033, under an aggressive AI adoption scenario, data centers worldwide could add 1,935 terawatt-hours of electricity demand — nearly as much as India uses in a year.
Enterprise Editor
Marcus follows the money. He covers enterprise software, cloud architecture, and the tectonic shifts in Big Tech strategy. He translates dense earnings calls and complex M&A activity into actionable insights about where the industry is actually heading. If a tech giant makes a silent pivot, Marcus is usually the first to notice.
via TechCrunch
