Data Centres Consume 1 GW Power, Demand Seen Rising Over 13 GW By 2031–32: MoS Power

New Delhi, Dec 15 (KNN) Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik said India’s data centres currently consume around 1 gigawatt (GW) of electricity. 

This demand is projected to rise sharply to about 13.56 GW by 2031–32, reflecting the rapid expansion of data centres and AI-related infrastructure across the country.

Energy Consumption Patterns and State-Level Variations

The Minister informed the House that state-wise and category-wise energy consumption data for 2023–24 reveals significant variations across regions and sectors. 

At the all-India level, total electricity consumption stood at 1,540,586.99 million units (MU). 

Domestic consumption accounted for 369,059.50 MU, while commercial use stood at 128,623.20 MU. Industrial consumption comprised 88,616.63 MU at low and medium voltage levels and 552,009.29 MU at high voltage. Agriculture consumed 275,484.96 MU, traction services used 33,917.67 MU, and public water works and sewage pumping accounted for 32,136.27 MU. Public lighting consumption was 9,350.78 MU, while miscellaneous uses together amounted to 51,388.71 MU.

Per capita electricity consumption in the country has followed a steady upward trajectory over the past five years, rising from 1,161 kWh in 2020–21 to a provisional 1,460 kWh in 2024–25, underscoring growing demand from households, industry and services.

No Central Data on Power Use by Data Centres

On captive power arrangements, the Government clarified that captive generation is organised by users themselves for self-consumption. At present, electricity consumption by data centres is not centrally tracked, and no consolidated national database exists for this segment.

Steps to Improve Monitoring and Forecasting

The Minister said several measures are being implemented to enhance real-time monitoring, reliability and demand forecasting in the power sector. 

These include the deployment of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Distribution Management Systems (DMS) to improve outage management and grid efficiency, and the establishment of 12 Renewable Energy Management Centres (REMCs) and one Energy Management Centre (EMC) in South Andaman to forecast and monitor wind and solar generation.

(KNN Bureau)