AI data centres to add 26.3 GW load by 2031-32, says power ministry; grid stability a concern

📌 Summary:

• The Ministry of Power told Parliament that AI data centres will add 26.3 GW of additional load by 2031-32 — almost double its March 2026 projection of 13.56 GW
• This load is to be integrated into the grid and primarily served by renewable energy capacity
• Grid concerns: data-centre power demand can be very 'spiky' with sharp ramps, requiring reliable supply, transmission planning and grid balancing
• Policy discussions favour locating data centres away from urban/IT hubs (to avoid transmission congestion) and near green-energy sources
• Capacity trajectory: India's data-centre capacity rose from 375 MW (2020) to ~1.5 GW (2025); Wood Mackenzie projects 12 GW by 2030 (~40% CAGR), with AI-dedicated capacity expanding nearly 24-fold from 275 MW to 6,546 MW
• Data-centre electricity demand is forecast to grow 20-fold by 2040 (from 10 TWh in 2025), reaching ~7% of total electricity demand

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 — energy security, renewable integration, digital infrastructure and grid management amid the AI boom

📝 Prelims Facts:

• 1 GW = 1,000 MW; India's data-centre capacity was ~1.5 GW in 2025
• Data centres are energy-intensive facilities housing servers for computing and storage
• 'Grid balancing' matches electricity supply and demand in real time to maintain frequency stability

🔑 Key Term: Data centre — a facility housing large clusters of servers for computing, storage and networking; AI workloads make them highly power-intensive.