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AI Data Centers & Power: News and Explainers

Tracking the AI data center build-out: campus projects and spending, electricity and water use, grid strain, utility bills, local opposition and tech power deals.

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AI data centers are warehouse-sized buildings packed with specialized chips. Their electricity use is growing far faster than demand overall. Data center power use rose 17% in 2025, compared with 3% growth in global electricity demand, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). It projects that consumption will double by 2030. The agency also reported that capital expenditure by five large technology companies exceeded $400 billion in 2025.

The United States is the largest market, with about 45% of global data center electricity use in 2024 by the IEA's estimate. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated in June 2026 that data centers used 4.7% of U.S. electricity in 2024. It estimated they could account for 11.8% by 2030, within a range of 9.5% to 15.3%. That is higher than the 6.7% to 12% by 2028 in the lab's December 2024 report. The range reflects uncertainty about how many AI chips will be installed and how intensively they will run. Cooling raises a separate question about water. Serving new campuses can require new power plants and transmission lines whose costs regulators must divide among customers.

This section covers campus announcements and spending, electricity and water use, and strain on regional grids. It covers the effect on utility bills and the power contracts technology companies sign. It also follows local opposition. A Gallup poll conducted in March 2026 found 71% of U.S. adults opposed to an AI data center being built in their area. Data Center Watch is a 10a Labs research project that tracks local opposition. It counted at least 75 projects blocked or delayed in the first quarter of 2026, Newsweek reported. Estimates in this field differ by source and method. So coverage here names where each figure comes from and notes what is disputed.

AI Data Centers & Power reference

AI Data Centers & Power: common questions

Do data centers use a lot of electricity?
Yes. Data centers consumed about 485 terawatt-hours worldwide in 2025, up 17% in a year, according to the International Energy Agency. The agency put their 2024 share at roughly 1.5% of global electricity. It says a typical AI-focused facility uses as much power as 100,000 households. In the United States, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated the share at 4.7% of national electricity use in 2024. It projected 9.5% to 15.3% by 2030.
Do data centers use a lot of water?
It varies widely by site. In a December 2024 report, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated that U.S. data centers directly consumed 66 billion liters of water in 2023. It estimated that the power plants supplying them consumed nearly 800 billion liters more. A Virginia legislative review found most data centers there use about as much water as a large office building or less. It found a few use substantially more.
Do data centers raise your electric bill?
They can, depending on the region and on how regulators divide costs. PJM is the grid operator for 13 states and Washington, D.C. In July 2026 the independent market monitor for PJM attributed $6.3 billion of the $16.4 billion in capacity charges from the 2028/2029 auction to data center demand. Nationally, a Berkeley Lab and Brattle Group analysis found that states with the fastest demand growth from 2019 to 2025 generally saw inflation-adjusted average prices fall.
Do data centers create jobs?
Yes, though most are temporary construction jobs. Virginia's legislative audit commission reported in December 2024, citing industry representatives, that a typical 250,000-square-foot data center has about 50 full-time workers. Citing the same representatives, it said roughly half of them are contractors, while about 1,500 workers are on site at the height of construction. It estimated the industry supports 74,000 jobs in Virginia annually, about 59,000 of them tied to construction.

Sources

  1. Data centre electricity use surged in 2025, even with tightening bottlenecks driving a scramble for solutions, International Energy Agency
  2. Energy and AI: Executive summary, International Energy Agency
  3. Key Questions on Energy and AI: Executive summary, International Energy Agency
  4. United States Data Center Energy Usage Report: 2025 Update, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  5. DOE Releases New Report Evaluating Increase in Electricity Demand from Data Centers, U.S. Department of Energy
  6. 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  7. Data Centers in Virginia (JLARC Report 598), Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission
  8. Market Monitor Report (July 27, 2026), Monitoring Analytics, Independent Market Monitor for PJM
  9. Retail Electricity Price Trends and Drivers: Data Update-2026 Edition, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and The Brattle Group
  10. Data center electricity demand is expected to drive up costs after recent power auction, The Hill
  11. Americans Oppose AI Data Centers in Their Area, Gallup
  12. Data Center Projects Face 'Unprecedented Surge' in Blocks and Delays: Study, Newsweek
  13. Q1 2026: Data Center Watch Report, Data Center Watch (10a Labs)