The electric mesh is Poland visible in Krakow when the Polish government raises the cup at electricity prices, which is expected to increase inflation once again – January 18, 2015. Poland has one of the highest inflation in Europe. (Photo of Dominik Zarzycka/Nurphoto by Getty Images)
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A boom in artificial intelligence, a urgent need for more data centers and the history of energy transition – especially in transport – are a stimulating demand for electricity, and the existing energy infrastructure is fighting for keeping up.
Companies are facing five to eight years of waiting time for connection with aging and tight electricity networks, experts said CNBC because the appearance of new demand areas causes an unprecedented increase in applications for permission to power. According to IEA, at least 1500 gigawatts Global clean energy projects have been detained or delayed due to the lack of network connections, and about $ 700 billion of network investments is needed to achieve their green goals.
Data centers, high amenities that store servers for calculation processes and often require huge amounts powerDiego Hernandez Diaz, a partner in McKinsey, is the “main director” of this growing competition for a network connection.
CNBC said that customers quoted the waiting time of up to eight years to connect to the network.
“In Europe there are certain transmission systems operators who already encounter two, three or more people who are trying to connect to the same knot at the same time. … There is a literal queue at the individual points of the connection to see who can connect first, “he explained.
Hernandez, whose work focuses on electro-intensive industries, said that in the last 18 months almost all his work has focused on data centers, a sector, which, as he expects in the next six years in the next six years. It is expected that the demand for objects required for training large language models (LLM) will continue Exponential growth When technological giants race to dominate artificial intelligence.
Energy Management Company Schneider Electric He warned in the January report that Europe was facing the upcoming power crisis, with three to five years of waiting letters to connect the grid in limited energy regions.
We leave the situation in which you have one application or two applications a year, in some countries up to 1000.
Steven Carlini
The main supporter of AI and the data center
“It's a kind of race,” said CNBC Steven Carlini, the main supporter of AI and data centers at Schneider Electric. “You have all those companies that try to implement as much capacity as possible. But this is limited by the GPU (graphics processing units) and available power and permission. “
“We leave the situation in which you have one application or two applications (to connect to the network) annually, in some countries, up to 1000,” said Carlini.
McKinsey's McKinsey's McKinsey's McKinsey's McKinsey's McKinsey's McKinsey's McKinsey's McKinsey's Disloas is an emission Tojjjjowowowoowojajądzajajajądzajajajajądzajajajjajjajjajjajjajjajjajakacokococcococjarasaradadałoła “he also pointed to the growing complexity of the work of high -voltage mesh operators and an example of Germany, which must go from building 400 kilometers of energy lines annually up to 2000 kilometers.
Diaz sees the competition to connect to the “maintaining or intensifying” net in 2025.
Jerome Fournier, Innovation Director at the NEXANS submarine producers, said that his company has “huge” arrears in the scope of seven to 10 billion euros (7.28 billion dollars). Nexan cables are used to transmit electricity generated by a wind and solar farm and to supply power to houses and companies.
“Everyone is wondering: do we still have some space in our plans to create other projects?” He said.
Fournier told CNBC that companies such as Nexans should also have available machines for smaller projects, such as mutual connections for wind turbines at sea. “You must have the right balance between the burden of plans, profitability and this type of electrification,” he said.
New power ecosystem
Power restrictions are the leading operators of data centers to develop their own “supply ecosystem” according to Carlini Schneider Electric.
In the future, the data centers are expected to be in the center of this mesh ecosystem, especially if they are able to generate their own power with Small modular reactors – Mini nuclear reactors that produce electricity.
Storage of the battery Carlini also said that strategic fees are becoming more and more important. These systems allow for temporary energy storage from the energy network to provide an additional backup.
The general director of the Power Solutions AVK, Ben Pritchard suppliers, said that some European countries are facing large, 100-megawat demands for the combination of a mesh of size that they have never seen before.
He is in favor of energy solutions related to the transition, such as the use of microses, which are a separate power system.
In Norway they are trying Flexible connection agreements Where customers limit the connection to the net based on specific conditions, emphasized Beatrice Petrovich, a senior energy and climate analyst at Think Tank Ember. This allows them to adjust energy consumption depending on how the network is doing at certain times.
Ember also called for the rules on what he calls Investments in the “anticipating” network. This would allow electricity network operators to plan in the future, taking into account market trends of key technologies, such as the increase in renewable energy sources and battery storage, explained Petrovich.
Countries that progress forward with the improvement of regulations regarding the enabling companies to have a fully decarbonized pile of energy will be a “winner of the race”, issuing a more “friendly ecosystem” around data centers, said Pritchard Avk.
Ultimately, the bottleneck in the net “encourages people to think differently, and when people are encouraged to think differently, they are more open to different solutions. This, I think, then, that the market will change, “said Pritchard.
Modest EU growth
Despite the growing need for power from some new and developing industries, Europe still lags behind the rest of the world when it comes to the increase in the demand of power. High electricity prices and operating costs make it difficult to demand in the region, which leads to a more crushed market.
This month, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has hailed the increase in the “new era of electricity” because it has raised its forecasts about global demand, anticipating an increase of 3.9% for 2025-2027-the quantity growth rate in recent years.
However, forecasts for Europe are more modest. After two years of a sharp decrease in power demand, the region recorded an increase in only 1% in 2024, in accordance with the January Think Tank Embera report.
“2024 means a turning point for electricity demand,” said Ember's Petrovich, one of the authors of their report. “What we saw is the first reflection – even if it was a small reflection after many years of fall – it was common in the whole block.”
McKinsey's Diaz explained that since the energy crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and later sanctions of electricity, they have set about 60 to 80 euros per megawat. However, this is still 50-100% more expensive than the prices observed in the previous two decades.
As a result, consumer costs increased, which leads to signs of slowing down the demand for heat pumps and electric vehicles, he said.
Diaz added that in the case of producers in Europe the energy requirements “Tower above all other geography in the world, are not only potentially more expensive, but even potentially more difficult,” said Hernandez.
“Unprecedented” growth of data centers “helps the overall curve, but everything else fights with it,” said Hernandez.