To understand what numbers we are talking about, and to have an idea of how the expansion of artificial intelligence in data centers is destined to redesign the global demand for electricity, comes an analysis from the Confartigianato Research Office. The study, based on data from the International Energy Agency, reveals that between 2025 and 2030 the United States, China and the European Union will collectively need 3,312 TWh of additional electricity, of which 398 TWh will be absorbed by data centers. The analysis was presented at Domus de Maria (Cagliari), at the convention entitled "Energies and Sustainability Confartigianato High School" and organized with the energy consortia Caem, CEnPI and Multienergia.
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Marco Granelli, president of Confartigianato, underlined how the numbers once again show the close link between digital and energy transition: we need - he declared - timely investments in networks, renewables and storage, because the growth in consumption linked to AI - Granelli said - must not be passed on to the costs of energy and the competitiveness of businesses, without making small companies pay the bill for the growth in demand.
Meanwhile, the debate on data centers and their sustainability is also alive among European institutions. The European Commission recently proposed a common European framework to classify how much energy, water and other natural resources data centers actually use, to improve information transparency. The proposal came with a delegated act with which the EU - launching a public consultation until mid-December - addresses data hubs with a capacity greater than 500 kW, with the idea of presenting minimum energy performance standards for data centers active in the EU.
The common classification system, we read in a note from the EU Commission, would also have the task of verifying the contribution of data centers to energy networks, such as the reuse of waste heat, the addition of clean energy generation capacity and flexibility. Brussels estimates that reusing around half of all waste heat from European data centers is equivalent to the total heating needs of 4 million households in Europe. The first sustainability labels, according to the Commission, should arrive as early as 2027. Parliament and the Council will now have two months to oppose the delegated act which, otherwise, will come into force automatically. Brussels has committed to tripling the capacity of its data centers over the next five to seven years.
Data centers are an increasingly current topic, given that several companies have announced their intention to expand the network of sites or are already proceeding with construction. The goal of the new data centers is to respond to the sharp increase in demand for computing power for AI.
Alibaba, for example, has announced a plan to expand its data center network abroad over the next 12 months, targeting the markets of Europe and the Middle East. The Chinese technology group said it will open its first "cloud regions" in Turkey, Finland and the Netherlands, while expanding its data center presence in Malaysia, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, France and Hong Kong. Alibaba, which is among the main Chinese operators in the artificial intelligence sector, has made it known that it aims to exceed 20 gigawatts of global data center capacity by 2032. CEO Eddie Wu also announced his intention to develop an artificial intelligence model with a capacity of between 5 and 10 trillion parameters, several times higher than that of the largest Chinese model currently in existence.
To give other examples, Singaporean company BDx announced that it has started construction on a large data center campus dedicated to artificial intelligence in West Java, Indonesia. The facility, called CGK4, is located about two hours' drive from Jakarta and has already obtained connection to the national electricity grid. The plan calls for six buildings over three years: the first will open in early 2027 and will use an advanced liquid cooling system to prevent the most powerful servers from overheating.
According to the BBC, even in the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia, dozens of large data centers are being built to fuel the growth of artificial intelligence. These enormous structures, the BBC added, are being built at a rapid pace.
The computing power provided by data centers is considered central to the competition between China and the US on artificial intelligence. Beijing aims to integrate AI into 90% of industrial sectors and society by 2030. Centers, as reported by the BBC, are also being built in the northern provinces of Ningxia and Gansu and in Guizhou, in the south-west, taking advantage of the availability of wind and solar energy, less expensive land and the cooler climate. According to the BBC, China is also attracting young engineers and researchers, also thanks to the return of talent trained in the USA and the United Kingdom. Even in local communities, however, doubts about the consumption of energy, water and land are growing.
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