BNEF Predicts U.S. Data Centers Will Account for 20% of Electricity Consumption by 2035

Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) predicts that by 2035, electricity consumption by data centers in the United States will account for approximately 20% of the nation's total electricity usage, a significant increase from the current 5.9%. BNEF has raised its forecast for data center electricity demand in 2035 to 106 GW, up 36% from 78 GW in April of this year. Currently, the operational capacity of U.S. data centers is about 40 GW, accounting for 3.5%-4% of national electricity demand. Under BNEF's baseline scenario, this share is expected to reach 8.6% by 2035. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) high-growth model indicates that if the combined effects of cryptocurrency mining and AI computing power are included, the upper limit of this ratio also points to 20%. Bitcoin mining companies are actively transforming to meet the growing demand for AI computing power, with firms like Core Scientific and Riot Platforms partnering with tech giants such as AWS and Google to convert mining sites into AI data centers. Currently, Bitcoin mining companies have secured approximately 6 GW of electricity capacity, which is expected to expand to 12 GW by 2027, with some analysts estimating that around 20% of mining companies' computing capacity will shift to AI workloads by then. Data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) shows that data centers now account for about 90% of large load applications in the area, with many sites previously used for cryptocurrency mining being repurposed as AI computing facilities.

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