Australia’s data centres are forecast to consume close to seven times more electricity by the mid-2030s, as rising demand for computing and cloud services increases pressure on the power system.
The projections are attributed to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and appear in its annual Electricity Statement of Opportunities. One outlet reports that data centres’ share of Australia’s main electricity market would rise to about 13% by 2035–36, from roughly 3% today. Another focuses on the overall scale of the increase, describing it as nearly sevenfold over the next decade.
Both accounts link the trend to grid planning and energy supply challenges. As older coal-fired generation is retired, the power market will need additional investment in electricity generation and storage to meet higher loads from data centres. While the outlets emphasize different framing—share of the market versus total growth in consumption—they describe the same overall forecast from AEMO.
