The development of artificial intelligence means that data centres are becoming one of the largest new consumers of electricity. In China, ensuring a stable power supply for them has already been enshrined as one of the state’s strategic priorities. Beijing aims for as much as 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the sector to come from renewable sources by 2030. This represents a significant increase compared with the 11 per cent recorded in 2023.
The scale of the challenge is enormous. According to estimates presented by the State Power Investment Corp., data centres in China could increase their energy consumption by 300–500 billion kWh between 2026 and 2030. The lower end of this range roughly corresponds to the UK’s annual energy consumption. At the same time, analysts at Rystad Energy forecast that the capacity of Chinese data centres will almost double by the end of the decade, and the sector will become the fastest-growing source of energy demand in the country.
The biggest challenge, however, is not the production of green energy itself, but adapting it to the needs of AI infrastructure. Data centre operators run their expensive graphics processing units almost continuously, making it difficult to reduce energy consumption during peak hours. This sets them apart from many traditional industries, which can respond more flexibly to energy availability.
Experts also point to potential resistance from electricity network operators to the direct connection of wind and solar farms to data centres. Such solutions could reduce transmission network revenues and make it harder to recoup the costs of long-term infrastructure investments.
The growing demand for energy to power AI is not exclusively a Chinese problem. Similar challenges are being observed in the United States and Europe, where operators are increasingly citing grid constraints and power availability as the main barrier to further expansion of data centres.
For China, however, the stakes go beyond the energy transition. The ability to combine AI development with a low-carbon energy system could become one of the key elements of global technological competition in the coming years.
