Data Center Boom Set to Double US Grid Demand by 2030

A new report projects US data center electricity use jumping 133% by 2030, straining grids and slowing the clean energy shift.

The Kansas Health Institute, in a July 2026 report led by Emma Uridge, laid out how fast data center power demand is climbing. US data centers used an estimated 183 TWh in 2024 — over 4% of total national electricity — and, citing Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory modeling, the report projects that demand growing 133% by 2030 to reach 426 TWh.

The scale of the gap is the substance. Bank of America analysts estimate the US needs more than 230 GW of new generating capacity over the next five years, while regulated utilities are on track to add only about 93 GW — leaving a shortfall above 100 GW. Data centers alone could add roughly 125 GW of load through 2031. Today the electricity powering them is 56% fossil fuels, 22% renewables, and 21% nuclear, and the report says the surge is delaying coal plant closures. Water is a parallel strain: data centers used an estimated 17 billion gallons directly in 2023, with use projected to double or quadruple by 2028.

For energy abundance this reads as friction. When a single sector absorbs new supply faster than it can be built, the cost of power rises for everyone, and the transition to cheaper clean generation stalls. New York has become the first state to impose a one-year moratorium on large data center development.

Watch whether other states follow New York's lead. The caveats are real: the demand and water figures rest on modeled LBNL scenarios and a separate BofA analysis, not settled outcomes.

Source: Construction Dive