AI boom causes increase in electricity demand from German data centres

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence is set to cause a dramatic increase in the electricity demand of German data centres in the coming years.

According to surveys published by the digital industry association Bitkom on Tuesday, data centres and smaller IT installations in Germany will require around 23 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity in 2026.

This is roughly equivalent to the total annual electricity consumption of around 6.5 million households.

By 2030, consumption by data centres is expected to rise to between 35-38 billion kWh, and by 2035, demand could even grow to between 56-70 billion kWh.

At the same time, the industry is warning that insufficient grid capacity and protracted approval procedures threaten to become a massive bottleneck for Germany as a digital hub.

"Anyone who falls behind on infrastructure will quickly lose ground in AI too," said Bitkom president Ralf Wintergerst at the Digital Summit in Berlin.

To keep pace internationally, the association called for targeted relief on electricity prices and faster planning procedures.

Kilian Wagner, head of sustainable digital infrastructures at Bitkom, said that "companies will not put their digital transformation on hold, and we as the public will not use fewer digital services because we do not have enough data centres in Germany."

"We will simply become more dependent, and the data centres will be located abroad."

The association was cautious in its response to concerns about excessive water consumption by modern facilities.

Two-thirds (65%) of data centres in Germany had water consumption of no more than 0.1 litres per kilowatt-hour. Significant water demand arises primarily from evaporative cooling, which, however, is used by only around one-third of facilities in Germany.