Data centres will soon need more energy that we can produce, although the picture is distorted due to the wildly misleading claims and phantom applications.
Artificial intelligence is continuing to pose a huge headache for electricity producers, with a new report from Capgemini — AI meets the grid: shaping the data centre power play — showing that 77% of the 600 senior industry executives are concerned energy needs will soon outpace their ability to supply power. Meanwhile, 80% said they expect more extreme and volatile demand patterns to emerge due to the sector’s rapid expansion.
AI infrastructure is making forward planning much more difficult for other reasons, too. 77% of executives said they were worried about the ability accurately forecast due to the opaque nature of how the sector is growing. 67% also referred to ‘phantom demand’ from infrastructure developers submitting power requests for sites, 19% of which never actually materialise. And 68% said they expect shortages to become regular occurrences.
‘AI is transforming electricity systems far beyond demand growth. It is exposing structural constraints in grid capacity, planning, and power availability, while making demand more dynamic and harder to predict,’ said Claire Gauthier, Global Head of Energy & Utilities at Capgemini.
‘The challenge is no longer only how much power is needed, but whether it can be delivered reliably, where and when it is required,’ she continued. ‘Utilities have a defining role to play as system orchestrators, leveraging AI-enabled insights to balance grid and customer-owned resources, accelerate deliverable capacity, and enable the next phase of data centre growth.’
However, Capgemini’s report also suggests AI will be fundamental to more efficient and effective grid management. Some 60% of respondents in the study said better analytics and modelling could deliver a 10% improvement in failure reduction, operational productivity, prevention of and restoration after outages. Just under half were already using the technology for optimisation.
‘For both energy providers and data-centre operators, the key challenge is no longer only scaling capacity, but doing so under uncertainty, speed constraints, and rising system complexity,’ adds Gauthier. ‘Success will depend on the ability to align infrastructure investment, energy sourcing, and AI-enabled operations to manage both the scale and volatility of demand, while balancing reliability, cost, and sustainability.’
Image: Scott Rodgerson / Unsplash
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