Electricity use at record highs due to technological advancement

ABC NEWS (Australia)

For many years, demand for electricity in Australia rose steadily as the economy and population grew. But 16 years ago, demand for power stagnated or even fell. Now, electricity use is at record highs again and some experts are worried we may be unprepared for the scale and pace of demand that's coming.

Transcript

00:00Inside this Port Melbourne data centre, Alex Coates can barely be heard over the DIN.

00:07Air conditioning that runs around the clock to keep the servers cool,

00:11and the data of thousands of Australians safe is overwhelmingly loud.

00:15And you can see here just the kind of stack that we're looking at.

00:19Alex Coates says demand for data services is booming, driven by two forces.

00:24The first is since COVID-19 we have seen this radical digitisation of citizen experiences.

00:30And then if you consider the second force which is of course artificial intelligence or AI.

00:36There are about 200 data centres in Australia using around 5% of electricity supply from the grid.

00:43And that number is expected to nearly double by 2030.

00:46Rapid growth in the number of data centres will come with an explosion in demand for electricity to power them.

00:52And so this notion of the data that sits behind these two driving forces,

00:56we haven't seen anything like the demand that we will see over this coming period in what that means.

01:04After 16 years of flatlining, electricity demand reached new highs last year.

01:09Experts say there are a few reasons for the uptick, including the electrification of things like transport,

01:14and our insatiable need for data could further accelerate demand for power.

01:19So our expectation is that the demand forecasts will be exceeded enormously and it's a real issue for the economy.

01:25Authorities insist they are keeping a close eye on data centre demand.

01:29But they note industry plans are often more bullish than reality allows,

01:33and say demand centres will be just one area where demand grows.

01:37But it is something that we are very focused on making sure that we are well positioned to support.

01:43Operators say Australia should look to the US, where demand has caught most observers by surprise.

01:48It's just so quick. The level of technological advancement is so quick

01:53that we are going to have to work really hard to get ahead of the wave.

01:57A virtual challenge for Australia's climate targets.

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02:07O.S.

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02:10A virtual challenge for Australia has been implemented.

02:11A virtual challenge for Australia's climate targets.

02:13That will be their unique Soloiencia's international advance.

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