Report claims AI boom could lead to Australia using coal and gas for longer

Data centers driving the artificial intelligence boom could require more new electricity than Australia’s cars or homes in the next 15 years, says a Greenpeace report, warning that the sudden and unprecedented growth threatens the country’s transition to renewable energy.

The report was based on government forecasts that suggest data center energy needs will increase more than sixfold from 2024/25 to 2040, rising from 2 to 13 percent of the country’s total energy consumption.

This comes at a time when a major power grid operator is warning that it already does not have enough capacity to power all of the data centers currently in the planning pipeline.

An analysis commissioned by Greenpeace Australia Pacific found that the current and projected energy consumption of a new wave of large, power-hungry data centers adds to the challenge of climate policy aimed at closing coal-fired power plants and building enough renewable energy to replace them.