wherethepowergoes.substack.com/p/after-the-grid
1 correction found
Epoch AI and EPRI predict that US data centres could use more than 50 GW of continuous power by 2030, up from 5 GW in 2025, and that globally data centres could use more than 100 GW.
This misstates an Epoch AI/EPRI forecast about AI data-center power demand as if it were about all data centers. The 5 GW to 50+ GW estimate in that report is specifically for AI power demand/AI data-center capacity, not total U.S. data-center load.
Full reasoning
The cited Epoch AI/EPRI work is not a forecast for all data centers.
- On Epoch AI’s official page summarizing the white paper, the forecast is explicitly about AI: it says the authors “review evidence on how overall AI power capacity will grow” and conclude that “>100 GW of total AI capacity worldwide and >50 GW in the US is plausible by 2030.” It also says “The current US baseline of 5 GW is an estimate,” again in the context of AI data center capacity.
- EPRI’s own journal likewise describes the same report as forecasting that “the total AI power demand in the U.S. could grow from 5 GW … to more than 50 GW by 2030.”
That matters because EPRI’s separate 2026 analysis of total U.S. data-center demand says data centers already consume 4%–5% of U.S. electricity generation today, and could reach 9%–17% by 2030. So the article’s wording drops the crucial AI qualifier and attributes an AI-only forecast to data centers in general.
In short: the 5 GW → 50+ GW / 100+ GW figures are about AI data-center capacity or AI power demand, not all data centers.
3 sources
- How much power will frontier AI training demand in 2030? | Epoch AI
Overall, we find that >100 GW of total AI capacity worldwide and >50 GW in the US is plausible by 2030... Figure 2: Projections of growth in total US AI data center capacity... The current US baseline of 5 GW is an estimate.
- Why Data Readiness is One of Utilities' Most Urgent AI Challenges - EPRI Journal
In August 2025, for example, EPRI and Epoch AI released a report forecasting that the total AI power demand in the U.S. could grow from 5 GW at the time of publication to more than 50 GW by 2030.
- EPRI: Data Centers Could Consume Up to 17% of U.S. Electricity by 2030
According to an analysis issued today by EPRI, data centers could consume 9%-17% of U.S. electricity generation by 2030-more than double current use... Data centers currently consume 4%-5% of U.S. electricity generation.