WASHINGTON: Use of data-intensive technologies – in particular artificial intelligence (AI) data centres – is growing faster than electricity infrastructure can handle, the UN's economic commission for Europe (UNECE) has warned, raising concerns about the future reliability and resilience of energy systems worldwide.
Data centre consumption is expected to almost double by 2030 – from 485 Terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025 to 950 TWh by 2030, equivalent to three per cent of global demand, according to the International Energy Agency.
On the other hand, investment in data centre infrastructure worldwide is forecast to roughly double only by 2050 – from around US$800bil (RM3.26 trillion) per year in 2026 to US$1.8 trillion (RM7.32 trillion) per year in 2050.
The Geneva-based commission warns that in many regions, data centres and other energy-intensive facilities are being built much faster than the power grids needed to supply them.
A large facility can often be built and connected within two to five years, but expanding transmission lines and other grid infrastructure can take more than 10 years because of lengthy planning, approval and construction processes.
One of the worries is that overloading electricity systems could cause voltage oscillations, unintended disconnections, and cascading failures. This is already happening in some extreme cases, in systems that depend on renewable energy sources.
Electricity demand from AI data centres is volatile and can spike unexpectedly: grids that rely on renewable energies cannot adjust in real time, UNECE points out.
This mismatch between demand and supply has led several countries to take energy-saving measures to prevent overloading their national networks.
Ireland, which has one of the highest concentrations of data centres in the world, has introduced connection restrictions in Dublin, and the Netherlands has introduced constraints on where data centres can be built.
UNECE called for greater regulation and coordination to ensure the long-term reliability and resilience of what are increasingly essential energy systems. – dpa
