Renewables can supply the vast majority of power required for the growing demand of energy needed to operate data centres, research by Goldman Sachs published on January 23 revealed.

Power demand from data centres is skyrocketing as artificial intelligence (AI) experiences a boom in the global economy. Compared to 2023 levels, power demand from data centres is forecast to rise by more than 160% by 2030 to between 85 and 90 GW.

According to Goldman Sachs, renewables could supply up to 80% of the energy demand of data centres.

Also working in renewables favour is the fact that green energy sources, such as onshore wind and solar power can provide a cheaper cost of energy than natural gas, before factoring in transmission, which is typically higher for renewable energy sources since they are usually built further away from cities.

Nevertheless, another energy source will be needed to provide baseload power since wind and solar do not produce power consistently enough. This baseload power could be supplied by nuclear or natural gas, while battery technology will also need to be utilised in a scenario where the bulk of energy demand for data centres is provided by green energy.

Ensuring renewable energy can meet the needs of data centres will be critical to keeping global temperature rise to less than 2°C as targeted under the Paris Agreement.

If thermal energy sources were used to meet the increased power demand from data centres, Goldman Sachs forecasts that it would result in an expected emissions rise of between 215mn to 220mn tonnes, which would make up about 0.6% of the globe’s total energy emissions.   

However, analysts are hopeful that innovation and technological advancements in AI could improve efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of data centres.