LONDON (Reuters) – Europe’s data centre 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 centres 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 centres will create.
CONTEXT
According to the International Energy Agency, much of the growth in data centres will be in the United States but other economies such as China and Europe will also experience more data centre installation over the coming years.
BY THE NUMBERS
In Europe – the European Union, Norway, Switzerland and Britain – the total IT load demand for data centres 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 centre 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 centres are expected to account for around 5% of total European consumption in the next six years compared to around 2% today.
Meeting data centre demand will require at least $250-300 billion in data centre 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 Nina Chestney; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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