Discrete and Process Automation

The energy appetite of US data centers

15 January 2025
Source: EPRI

A steady increase in internet usage, cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) deployment has transformed data centers in the U.S. into major consumers of electricity. These facilities require power to support expanding computational resources and cooling infrastructure.

This depiction of data center electricity consumption in 2023 covers the 44 states that had significant loads in such facilities.

In 2023, data centers were estimated to consume around 4% of total electricity output in the U.S., according to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Such consumption is projected to reach between 4.6% and 9.1% by 2030, depending on growth scenarios.

According to the EPRI data, 15 states account for 80% of the national data center load: Virginia, Texas, California, Illinois, Oregon, Arizona, Iowa, Georgia, Washington, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Nebraska, North Dakota and Nevada. Northern Virginia has emerged as the global epicenter for data centers, with nearly 300 facilities concentrated in three counties.

Data centers are projected to grow to consume 4.6% to 9.1% of U.S. electricity generation annually by 2030 versus an estimated 4% today.

To contact the author of this article, email GlobalSpecEditors@globalspec.com


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