The energy demands of European data centres developing artificial intelligence (AI) will triple by 2030, according to a study by consultancy McKinsey.
The report states that electricity demand is expected to exceed 150 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2030, compared to 62 TWh currently. This implies that AI will represent roughly 5% of Europe’s total electricity use – up from 2% at present.
Other studies have calculated that AI will consume twice as much energy as the whole of France by 2030, as AI chatbots like ChatGPT consume up to 25 times more energy than a simple Google search.
Belgium is a standard bearer for AI uptake, with a 2021 survey of leading economies in Europe and Asia showing that Belgian businesses were the second largest users of AI technologies, behind Denmark.
The McKinsey report warns that without renewable energy, the growing electricity demands of AI will accelerate the climate crisis. Currently, most electricity used by data centres comes from fossil fuels.
The rising demand for "clean" electricity poses major challenges, explains Diego Hernandez Diaz from McKinsey to the German press agency DPA. Reliable energy sources are available only to a limited extent.
The study highlights that the increasing demand for green electricity requires significant investment in renewable energy.
