Data Centers Are Turning to Onsite Power Sources to Address 35 GW Energy Gap by 2030
According to New Power Report, AI Needs Are Driving Data Centers to Adopt Energy Sources Beyond The Grid
As the energy needs of data centers continue to significantly outpace supply, a new report from Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE), a global leader in power solutions, predicts that 35 GW of data center capacity will be announced within the next five years — equivalent to over six times the average energy capacity used by New York City annually. To meet the soaring demand, data centers are adopting onsite power systems as a primary energy source, a shift that reflects the industry's drive for innovative solutions to address economic imperatives and ease pressure on the nation's aging power grid.
The 2025 Data Center Power Report surveyed approximately 100 data center leaders who make decisions about power systems architecture and explored actions they are taking to address the time-to-power challenge.
Key highlights include:
- In the U.S., an additional 55 GW of data center IT capacity is expected to come online in the next five years (vs. the 25 GW of existing capacity today). Approximately 20 GW of capacity has been announced to date.
- Data center leaders are taking responsibility for their power needs: approximately 30% of all sites are expected to use onsite power as a primary energy source by 2030 — more than double the percentage reported just seven months earlier.
- Decision makers are now prioritizing new factors like time-to-power and the ability to support more demanding and fluctuating AI workloads, reflecting a shift beyond traditional drivers of cost and reliability.
"We see AI and cloud computing driving explosive growth in data center demand, and power availability remains the major bottleneck," said Aman Joshi, Bloom Energy's Chief Commercial Officer. "The 2025 Data Center Power Report reveals that a growing number of data center leaders are turning to onsite power as a primary energy source. This underscores what we're hearing from customers: they feel the urgency to address economic imperatives while ensuring reliable, scalable energy solutions." Joshi noted that customers emphasized developing onsite power arrangements in close collaboration with utilities.
According to survey participants, access to power is expected to get more challenging. Public announcements of onsite power deployments have grown rapidly and indicate growth across technologies including fuel cells, which are gaining traction.
The 2025 Data Center Power Report is based on data collected from April to November 2024. Survey respondents represent both cloud service providers, or hyperscalers, as well as single- and multi-tenant data center developers. To add depth to the survey findings, Bloom Energy also commissioned interviews with key decision-makers and reviewed research from multiple external data sources including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, McKinsey & Company, and Goldman Sachs.
A copy of the Bloom Energy Data Center Power report is available here.
About Bloom Energy
Bloom Energy empowers businesses and communities to responsibly take charge of their energy. The company's leading solid oxide platform for distributed generation of electricity and hydrogen is changing the future of energy. Fortune 100 companies around the world turn to Bloom Energy as a trusted partner to deliver lower carbon energy today and a net-zero future. For more information, visit www.bloomenergy.com.
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