Electricity used by data centres this year
Estimated range: 319,445,171 – 479,167,757 (±20%)
- 485 TWh Estimate · 2025 · IEA
- 15.4 megawatt-hours per second, modelled
- Tier C (±20%) Indicative projection
- +0 Since you opened this page
Putting it in perspective
- Per second
- 15.4
- Per minute
- 922
- Per hour
- 55,327
- Per day
- 1,327,857
- Still to come this year
- 85,361,571
Counted in megawatt-hours.
How this number is made
- Algorithm
- Annual flow spread
Evenly distributed across 31,557,600 seconds (365.25 days) of the year.
- Confidence Tier
-
Tier C Indicative projection
IEA global data centre energy model with wide scenario bounds across hyperscaler and enterprise workloads.
- Error Band
- ±20%
Modelled range: 319,445,171 to 479,167,757
- Annualized Validation
- ≤ 3.0% tolerance passed
Pace: 485,000,000 megawatt-hours/yr vs cited reference 485,000,000 megawatt-hours/yr (exact match)
- Basis
- Estimate for 2025
- Record
- STO-862351D40C
- Source
- IEA, Executive summary – Key Questions on Energy and AI – Analysis - IEA (16 Apr 2026)
“from 485 TWh in 2025 to 950 TWh in 2030”
- Step 01
Take IEA’s figure for 2025: 485 TWh (an estimate).
- Step 02
Convert the unit: terawatt-hours × 1,000,000 = megawatt-hours, which gives 485,000,000 megawatt-hours a year.
- Step 03
Spread it evenly over a year of 31,557,600 seconds (365.25 days): about 15.4 megawatt-hours per second.
- Step 04
Count from 00:00 UTC on 1 January of the current year, so the number resets every New Year.
- On screen
- The result of those steps, recomputed four times a second in your browser. Nothing on this page is fetched live from the publisher.
- Why this can't be exact
- Real activity is not spread evenly: it clusters in working hours, weekdays and seasons, so the count runs ahead or behind the true figure at any given moment. It runs at the 2025 pace until a figure for the current year is published. Digits beyond the first two or three are the model ticking, not extra precision.
Frequently asked questions
Which published figure is the counter based on?
The International Energy Agency’s figure for 2025: 485 TWh (an estimate).
How is the live number calculated?
Take IEA’s figure for 2025: 485 TWh (an estimate). Convert the unit: terawatt-hours × 1,000,000 = megawatt-hours, which gives 485,000,000 megawatt-hours a year. Spread it evenly over a year of 31,557,600 seconds (365.25 days): about 15.4 megawatt-hours per second. Count from 00:00 UTC on 1 January of the current year, so the number resets every New Year.
How accurate is the counter?
Real activity is not spread evenly: it clusters in working hours, weekdays and seasons, so the count runs ahead or behind the true figure at any given moment. It runs at the 2025 pace until a figure for the current year is published. Digits beyond the first two or three are the model ticking, not extra precision.
Where does the data come from?
The International Energy Agency, “Executive summary – Key Questions on Energy and AI – Analysis - IEA” (16 Apr 2026). The record quotes the publisher’s own sentence, and nothing on the page is fetched live from the publisher.
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<iframe src="https://statorigin.org/embed/live/data-centre-electricity" width="100%" height="220" style="border:0;border-radius:8px" title="Electricity used by data centres this year, live counter" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://statorigin.org/live/data-centre-electricity">Data: IEA via StatOrigin</a> · CC BY 4.0</p>Cite this counter
A modelled figure: cite the published number it comes from when you can.
StatOrigin. (2026). Electricity used by data centres this year [Live counter, extrapolated from IEA]. Retrieved 28 Oct 2026, from https://statorigin.org/live/data-centre-electricity