North America’s data centres could add roughly 1,100 terawatt-hours of electricity demand between 2025 and 2030, according to Orennia’s outlook. Speaking at Energy Disruptors in Calgary, research director Aaron Foyer compared the challenge to building the equivalent of Canada’s power system twice in five years.
Nuclear projects face long timelines, while natural gas expansion is constrained by turbine availability. Foyer expects wind, solar and batteries to fill much of the near-term gap. He says those technologies represent about 90% of new capacity being added across Canada and the United States this year, making storage central to meeting AI’s electricity appetite.
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