Global data center expansion and implications for electricity consumption

Banca d’Italia published an Occasional Paper (No. 1014) in June 2026 analysing the global expansion of data centers and estimating associated electricity demand for the United States and Europe.

• Main announcement: The paper uses plant-level data to document about 15 years of growth in the number, compute capacity and geographic distribution of data centers, and estimates aggregate electricity demand associated with data centers in the United States and Europe; the report PDF (6 MB) is available from Banca d’Italia (Occasional Papers, QEF No.1014).
• Background and details: Authors Fabrizio Ferriani and Andrea Gazzani find that capacity has concentrated in large facilities mainly operated by US firms; while aggregate consumption remains relatively contained, in some local areas demand is significant with potential effects on local electricity prices and grid congestion, raising policy issues on energy, industrial policy, and strategic autonomy.