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It’s hard to hear anything over the roar of concern about data center energy use. With their gargantuan appetite for power, data centers are overwhelming the conversation around energy. That doesn’t mean innovation and growth aren’t driving energy demand in other sectors.
Take, for example, commercial and industrial (C&I) microgrids — not data centers, but everything else that makes up this customer class: stores, factories, hospitals, schools, etc. Maybe they are not in the news as much, but this space is quietly transforming — and not necessarily despite data centers, but in some cases because of them.
In fact, says Steve Ruse, CEO of Summit Consultants, many of the same forces driving data center growth are renewing interest in microgrids and onsite generation for manufacturers, logistics hubs and other power-intensive businesses.
As data centers scale to unprecedented sizes, some will require more power than entire cities. Together with electrification and other trends, they are driving electric demand to levels not seen in decades. ICF International forecasts that US power needs will grow 25% by 2030 and 78% by 2050 compared to 2023. Most telling, utilities have already committed to supply 64 GW of new data center capacity. That alone pushes up electric demand 12%, according to Wood Mackenzie.
Will the US be able to meet this demand? It may not be easy.
Building large-scale energy infrastructure is a slow process, delayed by lengthy permit and interconnection approvals and, more recently, by supply chain disruptions.
This is already creating electricity scarcity for businesses and manufacturers in some markets. When a single data center equals a city’s worth of demand, smaller industrial customers can struggle to get attention — or grid capacity.
Some industrials are waiting years for power because the utility is prioritizing data center mega-loads.
