Arizona is at risk of straining its power grid as AI servicing data centers proliferate around Maricopa County, leaving power companies rushing to meet developer demand, without compromising safety, service or increasing consumer costs.
According to the International Energy Agency, 2,700 data centers consumed more than 4% of the country’s total electricity in 2022. The agency projects this will reach 6% by 2026.
Analysts believe the Phoenix area has been at the forefront of data demand, trailing only Ashburn, Virginia, for data center absorption . With the growing demand for AI, data center storage capacity nationally is expected to grow 98% from 10.1 zettabytes in 2023 to 21.0 ZB in 2027.
“Consumers and businesses are expected to generate twice as much data in the next five years as all the data created over the past 10 years,” suggested analysts at JLL, a global commercial real estate and investment management company.
The growth of AI is a significant driver of the increased demand for power in Arizona.