In this blog, we’ve been discussing the urgency behind power planning for data centers. The International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) recent article confirms this urgency with their updated data. According to the IEA, electricity demand from data centers increased by 17% in 2025, while global electricity demand only grew by 3%. The agency also projects that total data center electricity consumption will double by 2030, while power use from AI-focused data centers will triple.

As you read in our previous blog post on Onsite Energy Options, data center developers are already evaluating a range of onsite power strategies, including diesel generators, fuel cells, battery storage, geothermal energy, microgrids, and small modular reactors. The IEA’s latest reporting adds another important layer…the real-world bottlenecks forcing developers to find solutions, fast.

The IEA talks about tightening supply chains for gas turbines, transformers, advanced chips, and IT components. It also notes that the growing pipeline of data center projects is straining planning and regulatory systems. These challenges have pushed growth in renewables, nuclear energy, and geothermal energy. AI is truly accelerating the commercialization of new energy technologies.

IEA points to growing momentum around nuclear power. For SMRs, specifically, the pipeline of conditional offtake agreements grew from 25 gigawatts at the end of 2024 to 45 gigawatts by April 2026. As SMRs become a greater part of the data center power mix, maintenance and outage support will need to be considered early in the planning process. This is where Preferred Engineering can support data center growth.

For current facilities, diesel generators remain one of the most proven sources of standby power. As we discussed in Gear up for Data Center Onsite Power Generation, those generators need reliable support systems to keep running. Fuel oil storage, transfer, filtration, controls, leak detection, and monitoring all play a critical role in keeping backup power ready when the facility needs it. Preferred Utilities can be a great asset to a growing data center.

The data center power challenge will require more than new generation capacity. It will require continuous and fast solutions that can keep up with the rapid pace of growth and development. And that infrastructure will need to provide the utmost in reliability for long-term resilience.