THE DEMAND OUTLOOK
Read the scale.
Keep the scope.
The IEA’s April 2026 outlook puts worldwide data-center electricity use at 485 TWh in 2025 and projects 950 TWh in 2030 in its central case. These figures cover all data centers, including AI workloads.
Reference estimate485
Central projection950
A forecast is a scenario, not installed or reserved power.
View the underlying data table
| Year | Electricity use | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 485 TWh | Reference estimate |
| 2030 | 950 TWh | Central projection |
Source: IEA (2026), Key Questions on Energy and AI, executive summary ↗. Published 16 April 2026. CC BY 4.0. Chart adapted from the reported figures; checked 5 November 2026.
What this means for an individual site
Our planning interpretation: use global demand to understand the market, then build a separate evidence trail for your location. Electricity consumption over a year does not establish a site’s peak demand, a grid connection rating or an energization date.
Energy consumed over time. Useful for market scale and annual supply discussions.
Power at a point in time or a stated capacity rating. Useful for a defined site scenario.
Procurement is one part of the power path
On 6 October 2026, Constellation announced a 20-year agreement with Google supporting planned uprates totaling 890 MW across its nuclear fleet. This is an announced future capacity initiative, not a listing of power available to a new project.
Read the Constellation announcement ↗ · Checked 5 November 2026.
For your own brief, separate the commercial supply arrangement from the physical connection, network studies, commissioning milestones and operating constraints. Record who must confirm each assumption.