Mint Explainer: Why the surging use of AI may challenge India’s power sector
Also read | Can India keep up with the ebbs and flows of power demand? Additionally, the 2022 electric power survey considered emerging demand from electric vehicles—it assumed that 30% of all vehicles sold in 2030 would be battery electric vehicles and 100% by 2042. Solar power and hydrogen mission contributions that will ease the pressure on conventional energy sources were also considered. However, the widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI, and the setting up of large data centres to support online AI interactions could lead to the overshooting of these demand forecasts.
Mint explains how the rise of AI could lead to a sharp increase in power demand. Concerns about the energy impact of AI are on the rise in many parts of the world. The International Energy Agency, in its annual report on electricity market developments and policies published in January, estimated that data centres, cryptocurrencies and AI together accounted for 460 terawatt hours (TWh) of power or about 2% of global electricity demand in 2022.
This demand could rise to 620-1,050 TWh by 2026; the agency’s base case for demand is at just over 800 TWh. The additional demand by 2026 from data centres, cryptos and AI is equivalent to the 2022 power consumption of Sweden at the lower end and Germany at the higher end. An article published by the World Economic Forum noted that the energy requirement to run AI tasks was already accelerating with an annual growth rate of 26-36%.
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