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Data centers use a modest share of the world’s electricity today, but their consumption is growing quickly and is concentrated in particular places. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that they used 415 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2024—about 1.5% of global electricity. Its Base Case projects about 945 TWh by 2030, just under 3%. Data centers are expected to account for around one-tenth of global electricity-demand growth to 2030, less than several larger growth drivers, including electric vehicles, air conditioning and industrial motors. Those global totals do not rule out significant pressure on individual grids or comparisons between a large AI-focused facility and a power-intensive factory.
How much electricity do data centers use globally?
The IEA estimates that data centers consumed 415 TWh of electricity worldwide in 2024, about 1.5% of global electricity use. That is an annual energy total, not the amount of power available to data centers at any one moment. The IEA says data-center electricity use has grown by around 12% per year since 2017. IEA, Energy and AI: Executive summary
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For comparison, the IEA’s 2025 review of published estimates found that eight studies it rated as high quality put global data-center use in 2023 between 210 and 440 TWh, with an average base-case estimate of 335 TWh. The spread reflects different methods and estimates; it is not a range for 2024 and should not be substituted for the IEA’s 2024 estimate. IEA 4E, Data Centre Energy Use: Critical Review of Models and Results
How might data-center use compare by 2030?
In the IEA’s Base Case, global data-center electricity consumption reaches around 945 TWh in 2030, just under 3% of projected global electricity use. This is a scenario, not a measured result or a guarantee. The same case implies annual data-center electricity growth of around 15% from 2024 to 2030—more than four times the projected growth rate for electricity consumption from all other sectors combined. Forecasts depend on factors including AI uptake, hardware and software efficiency, server shipments and constraints on energy supply. The IEA also considers other cases to reflect that uncertainty. IEA, Energy demand from AI – Energy and AI
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Are data centers the biggest source of new electricity demand?
No. The IEA attributes around one-tenth of global electricity-demand growth through 2030 to data centers. That is a share of the increase in demand, not data centers’ share of total electricity consumption. In the IEA’s comparison, industrial motors, air conditioning in homes and offices, and electric vehicles are larger contributors to growth. The IEA 4E review likewise describes electricity-intensive manufacturing, electric vehicles and air conditioners as larger global growth drivers than data centers. IEA executive summary; IEA 4E review
These comparisons concern added electricity demand over a period. They do not rank the sectors by their total existing consumption, and the one-tenth figure cannot be compared directly with the 1.5% estimate for data centers’ share of global electricity in 2024.
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Can a data center use as much power as a factory?
At the facility level, some can. The IEA’s 2025 executive summary says: “AI-focused data centres can draw as much electricity as power-intensive factories such as aluminium smelters, but they are much more geographically concentrated.” This is a comparison between AI-focused facilities and energy-intensive factories, not a claim that every data center matches a smelter or that the two industries consume the same total amount of electricity. IEA, Energy and AI: Executive summary
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Data-center capacity is geographically clustered. The IEA reports that nearly half of US data-center capacity is located in five regional clusters. A concentrated load can matter to the local grid even when it forms only a small share of global consumption: where facilities connect, the available grid capacity and the timing of new demand all affect local planning. The IEA 4E review also identifies grid-connection and capacity constraints as potential issues where data centers are concentrated. IEA executive summary; IEA 4E review
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Ireland shows how the national picture can differ
In Ireland, data centers used 6,969 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2024, or 21.8% of metered electricity consumption, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The CSO’s tariff-group figures show how that use compared with selected other categories:
| Ireland electricity category, 2024 | Consumption |
|---|---|
| Data centers | 6,969 GWh (21.8% of metered consumption) |
| Urban residential tariff group | 5,849 GWh |
| Rural residential tariff group | 3,101 GWh |
| Other non-residential tariff groups | 13,055 GWh |
Data-center use exceeded the urban residential and rural residential groups separately, but not the other non-residential tariff groups as a group. These are Irish national figures, not a proxy for the global share. Central Statistics Office Ireland, Business in Ireland 2025: Emissions and Energy Use by Enterprises – Energy
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- 2-flat-pin plug
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What makes data-center electricity comparisons difficult?
- Consumption and capacity are different measures. Annual TWh or GWh describe energy consumed over time; power capacity describes how much can be drawn at a moment. Do not treat them as interchangeable.
- Facility and sector comparisons answer different questions. A large AI-focused data center may have a power draw comparable to a smelter, while data centers’ total global electricity use remains a separate sector-wide measure.
- Global and local comparisons have different geography. A global percentage can obscure concentrated demand in a country or grid region.
- Forecasts and observations are not interchangeable. The 2024 figure is an estimate for a past year; the 2030 Base Case is a scenario subject to uncertainty.
- Category boundaries vary across studies. The IEA’s 2024 electricity report forecast data centers, AI and cryptocurrency together, and explicitly excluded transmission-network demand. That combined forecast is not a pure data-center estimate. IEA, Electricity 2024: Analysis and forecast to 2026
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