McKinsey says that Europe's power consumption for data centres is expected to triple between now and 2030.

A McKinsey study showed that Europe's data center power consumption will almost triple by 2030. This will require an increase in electricity, mostly from low carbon sources, as well as grid infrastructure upgrades.

Why it's important

In the last couple of years, data centre investment has increased as digitalisation (AI) and digitalisation have gained momentum. The question is how the countries will be able to meet the anticipated rise in electricity demands that the increasing number of data centres create.

CONTEXT

The International Energy Agency states that the United States will see the most growth in data centers, but China and Europe are also expected to experience a rise in data centre installations in the future.

By the Numbers

According to a McKinsey study, the demand for IT in Europe (European Union, Norway Switzerland and Britain) is expected to increase to 35 gigawatts by 2030, up from the current 10 GW.

According to the current adoption rate, Europe's power consumption in data centres is expected to triple by the end decade to over 150 terawatt-hours (TWh), up from 62 TWh currently.

In six years, data centres will account for 5% of the total European consumption, compared to 2% currently.

The report stated that to meet data centre demand, data centre infrastructure investments will need to be between $250 and $300 billion, excluding the power generation capacity.

KEY QUOTE

The McKinsey Report stated that "Meeting the (increase in electricity) Demand will require an extensive rise in electricity supply. This is a significant shift for Europe where aggregate power consumption has been relatively stagnant since 2007." (Reporting and editing by Emelia Sithole Matarise; Nina Chestney)

(source: Reuters)