Side by Side: How Much of the Grid Do Data Centres Take?

Kazakhstan’s minister of artificial intelligence, Zhaslan Madiyev, told The Times of Central Asia last week that a new data centre cluster will start on power at about 2.5 US cents a kilowatt-hour, against about 10 to 12 cents in Virginia and more than 20 euro cents in Europe. “AI tokens will be the new currency,” he said. The question for the meter reader: what share of a country’s electricity do data centres already use, and what share is on order?

United States

About 4.4 percent of all US electricity in 2023, or 176 TWh, up from 58 TWh in 2014, according to a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report released by the Department of Energy. By 2028, between 6.7 and 12 percent, or 325 to 580 TWh. The most precise present here and the loosest future: the gap inside the 2028 forecast, 255 TWh, is larger than China’s entire data centre load in 2024 by the IEA’s count.

European Union

“Around 3 percent of total electricity consumption in the EU,” as reported when the European Commission announced new measures to stem it in June 2025, and set to double within five years according to the IEA. No year attached to the share, no figure attached to the doubling. Brussels has even handed its forecasting to an agency in Paris.

China

Somewhere between 0.9 and 2.7 percent of the country’s electricity, depending on the estimate, Carbon Brief reports. Government figures put use at 77 TWh in 2022 and 150 to 200 TWh in 2025; the IEA says 100 TWh in 2024; a 2021 State Council-linked report said 200 TWh as early as 2020. By 2030, anything from 400 to 600 TWh. The only country on the list where the size of the load depends mainly on who is asked.

Australia

“Around 2% of today’s grid-supplied electricity use,” says the Australian Energy Market Operator, rising about 25 percent a year to roughly 12 TWh, or 6 percent, by 2030, and about 34 TWh, or 12 percent, by 2050. The smallest share here and the longest telescope. Australia has planned to reach in 2050 the share the United States may reach in 2028.

Verdict

Washington counts precisely and forecasts loosely, Brussels approximately and by proxy, Beijing in three editions, Canberra a quarter of a century ahead. Every forecast rises, most to double or more, and not one of the four says which other users of the grid are expected to make room. Kazakhstan has the cheapest power on the page and the clearest theory of it. If tokens are the new currency, the grid is the mint, and four governments are still arguing over how much has already been printed.