Everyone’s talking about the explosive growth of data centers — but what are the implications for the industry and the US power grid? The experts at EPRI have published an incredible white paper on the topic, “Powering Data Centers: U.S. Energy System and Emissions Impacts of Growing Loads,” diving deep into the data.
Here are a few key takeaways and some of the OCOLO team’s favorite graphics from their research:
1. 12 States Lead Data Center Power Usage: Virginia, Texas, Oregon, Arizona, California, Illinois, Georgia, Ohio, Washington, Iowa, Nevada, and New York together account for 80% of the power consumed by data centers. Virginia and Texas are expected to pull even further ahead with massive increases in total load capacity. Check out this chart that shows their dominance!
2. Virginia Data Centers are Staggering Electricity Consumers! Data Centers statewide account for nearly 25% of total electricity demand! Meanwhile, states like Texas, Oregon, Arizona, Ohio, and New York added more than 50% of their data center energy consumption between 2020 and 2023. This growth is unprecedented.
3. Data Center Load Growth Outpacing Other Industries’: When it comes to electrical load growth, Data Centers are leaving other industries in the dust. No other sector is projected to grow as significantly as data centers in terms of power usage.
There are many more interesting facts and findings in the EPRI white paper, which you can access here.
As the industry evolves, OCOLO is here to help you navigate it. With free access to our portal, you can find and select data center services that meet your exact capacity needs anywhere in the world. Visit OCOLO.io today to test our search function or request a demo. With thousands of inventory listings from nearly 100 global service providers, OCOLO makes finding the right colocation solutions easier than ever.
